Waking Amestris
by Nature9000
Summary: The homunculi throw the humans of Amestris to sleep for the philosopher's stone and it's up to Hayate, Den and a few others to wake the humans and destroy the homunculi. Royai, you'll see why. Drop a review and let me know what you think. No flames needed
1. Prologue

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Yes, this stars Black Hayate, Den (Who several has confirmed is a male, so don't tell me Den is a female), and an OC dog named Coal. Coal is Roy's pet. The homunculi have dogs of their own and you'll see what happens as you read the story. Also I'm too lazy to give the homunculi and Dante's dogs any other names.

* * *

Chapter 1 (Prologue)

Somewhere on a very high mountaintop in the outskirts of Amestris Dante and the seven homunculi met with one another. "So why are we here?" Lust asked as she crossed her arms.

"I have found a much easier way to use grab the philosopher's stone unnoticed," Dante said with a smirk. "To kill and sacrifice these people when they least expect it…When they are asleep!" Dante led the homunculi to the center of the mountain where they all gazed in awe at the large crystal that stood before them.

"So what are we going to be doing with this crystal?" Sloth asked quietly.

"I am going to use alchemy on this crystal and with it I will put all the humans of Amestris to sleep." Dante smiled and looked down at the Shih Tzu that sat next to her side. "Isn't that right my precious one?"

"You're talking to me?" The dog barked in response. "You just wait and see what I have in store for you." The dog walked over to seven other dogs and smirked. "She gave all the homunculi little homunculi dogs…" A pit bull stepped forward and grinned.

"Well we did need owners, even though they are extremely pathetic," The pit bull stated.

"Don't worry about it Pride, we'll soon have them out of our hair, along with every other human in this country."

"Yeah, and then we'll have the philosopher's stone all to ourselves!" exclaimed a greyhound.

"Exactly, Envy, when they are all asleep, nothing shall stand in our way!"

"What are those dogs yapping about over there?" Envy said as he crossed his arms.

"I don't know, but it's your dog that just let out the loud howl," Lust said with a chuckle. Lust looked down at her dog and picked it up. "My dog's not a problem at all."

"Hey! Put me down you damn creature!" Shouted the cocker spaniel named after Lust. "If you don't put me down I'll have Gluttony eat you!" The dog glanced over at the large bloodhound sitting beside Gluttony.

"Do I really get to eat her, Lust?" The bloodhound asked.

"I didn't say you could eat her yet, that would be too suspicious!" An Afghan hound and a Pharaoh hound stepped forward and smiled.

"It's only a matter of time Gluttony, perhaps you can eat them afterwards," The Afghan hound stated.

"Yeah, listen to what mommy says," the Pharaoh hound quickly said.

"Silence," The Shih Tzu said quickly. "Can't you tell the homunculi are all looking at us right now? You're lucky they can't understand you with all that damn barking you're doing!"

"I'll apologize for them," A king shepherd named Greed stated. "Though I don't see how much it matters. At least I'm not hated like my 'master' is hated by his comrades."

"I think we can do without calling them our 'masters' wouldn't you think so?" Pride asked.

"Well they do take care of us…"

"That's a laugh," Envy said as he pressed his paw against the ground. "It's more like they neglect us." They watched as Dante's dog walked up and placed her paw on the crystal. Dante looked down and let a small smile show.

"So you want to do this with me?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, I want to do this with you, you stupid moron," the dog stated with a low growl.

"Very soon in twenty four hours, all of Amestris well be sleeping! We can then sacrifice however many we want in order to create the philosopher's stone, all without anybody suspecting anything at all. The time has come!" The homunculi all crossed their arms and smirked as Dante used her alchemy on the crystal. She looked down to see her dog still with her paw on the crystal. "Come on girl, it's time to leave, in twenty four hours, Amestris will be at our fingertips."

"How wrong you are witchy human. In a few hours all of Amestris will be at my paws! However when I'm through here, you will instantly be on the ground." Dante's eyes widened as a light came from the dog's paws. Dante and the homunculi all screamed as a light shot out from the crystal, they then fell to the ground.

"We did it, they're all unconscious!" The pit bull shouted. The Shih Tzu named Dante jumped from the crystal and grinned.

"Yes, they are in eternal slumber, now in twenty four hours, all of Amestris will be in eternal slumber," Dante said with a low cackle. "Then we can make the philosopher's stone and turn all of you into regular dogs once more. Me on the other hand, I will destroy all the humans afterwards."

"Can you do both things with the philosopher's stone?" Gluttony asked.

"With a stone created by an entire country, yes I can."

"Can I eat them?" Gluttony asked as he sniffed his fat owner. "I really want to eat them."

"Do what you want with them, I really don't care."

-----------------

A female Shiba Inu stepped into the street and sighed. "I will never return to that damn adoption center. I'll find an owner myself…Besides, who wants a dog that knows alchemy?"

"Are you Coal, the flame dog?" A voice asked. Coal turned to see a large Doberman with a scar on his face.

"Who wants to know?"

"I desire to know. I am the one known as Scar."

"Scar, huh?" Coal took a step back and looked a Scar's eyes. _"Just like my kennel buddies described him."_ Coal stood up straight and smirked. "I'm just a dog who is out looking for a new owner."

"You are a normal dog?" Scar asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, I am as normal as they come." Scar looked at Coal's white paws and sighed.

"Then what are those marks on your paw?"

"They are just markings that my parents burned into my skin…"

"Those are transmutation circles." Coal rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You have that alchemy insignia on your leg, so don't you talk to me about using alchemy."

"Judgment day is upon us, I am here to give you to God."

"Okay, but why are we doing this again?"

"I despise alchemists."

"Did we not just get through saying that _you_ are an alchemist yourself?" Scar growled and charged toward Coal. She leapt back and sighed. "Didn't your mother ever teach you manners? You're not supposed to charge at a lady."

"I'd hardly call you a lady."

"I am so a lady!" Coal looked at Scar and smirked. "You make a lovely lady as well."

"What! You'll die for that statement!"

"Oh, have I angered our fair lady?" Coal chuckled and turned around. _"I could use a nice run anyway. I think I'll make this guy tired so I can go about my own business. I have more important things to do than fighting off some bum." _Coal quickly took off and Scar raised his eyebrow.

"Where the hell do you think you're going!"

"Come on big boy, come catch me!"

"You won't escape; no dog alchemist has escaped me!"

"Well, yay for you," Coal said flatly as she ran. _"Damn it, he really is fast…_" Coal sighed and sped up a little. "Hey, if you let me go I promise once I find a new owner I'll come and let you try to kill me!"

"There is no trying in that statement! I _will_ dispose of you!"

"Good luck with that!" Coal looked over and saw a black haired man with bangs in his face standing in the distance. She noticed white gloves on his hands and smirked. _"An Alchemist, maybe he'll want me!"_ Coal began barking loudly. "Human, look over here, I'm a fast dog, I hope you want me!"

"He won't help you!" The man was in fact Colonel Roy Mustang. Roy turned and saw Coal being chased by a Doberman.

"Such a cute dog…That Doberman looks hungry." Roy lifted his gloved hand and snapped his fingers. Coal's eyes widened as she saw pillars of flames shoot up from around Scar.

"Okay, it's time for the cute and playful act," Coal stated with a smirk. "I'll show him just how much I appreciate this." Coal glanced over to see Scar still trapped behind the fire. "Hey, I thought you said no dog has ever escaped you!"

"Shut up!" Scar shouted. Roy walked over to Coal and took out a slice of meet. Coal's head jerked over to see the meat in Roy's hand.

"Meat, yes it's meat, it's been forever since I've had meat!" Coal leapt toward Roy and ate the entire slab of meat whole and then began to lick Roy's face.

"Hey, stop that!" Roy said with laughter. Coal stopped and Roy stood back up. "I'm guessing you don't have a home. You look well groomed so you're not a stray." Roy crossed his arms and sighed. "You probably escaped from that pound down the street…They're always losing their pets. Maybe I'll take you home with me."

"Yes, please do!" Coal exclaimed with joy. "I know you don't understand a word I'm saying to you, but maybe you'll get the hint!" Roy chuckled as Coal started barking rapidly.

"I don't know why, but you remind me of the coals that are used when cooking something. I think I'll call you Coal, short for Charcoal."

"I love it! I'm following you home whether you want me or not, so you better want me!"

"You look so much like Riza's dog…"

"Riza, who the heck is Riza, is she a new owner as well?" Roy looked over to see his flames dying down. Scar growled and then charged toward Coal. Coal sighed and looked back.

"You're really starting to get on my nerves, Scar…" Coal quickly snapped her nails together and sent a burst of flame toward Scar. "Crap…I wonder if this human will take me home now." Roy stood with wide eyes as Scar was thrown back by the flame. Scar growled and ran off as Coal let out a small whimper.

"That was amazing; I didn't know dogs could perform alchemy!" Roy knelt and glanced at Coal's white paws, he smirked when he saw the transmutation circles that were burnt into her paws.

"Now he's seen the transmutation circles on my paws…No, normal dogs don't often use alchemy. Now that he knows this, he'll leave me on the streets. Oh well, first thing I'll do is go hunt down that man, Scar, and destroy him." Coal started to turn around but stopped when Roy hugged her.

"Where are you going, you're coming home with me."

"So he's serious…_Thank you!"_ Coal followed Roy to his home and sighed with contentment. When they arrived at the home, Coal's eyes grew wide as she stared at the size of the house. "I think I'm going to like it here."

"Well Coal, tomorrow I'll take you to work, I'm sure everyone would enjoy meeting you. Let's just make sure you're potty trained."

"Don't worry about that, human, I was trained in the kennel. I won't be defecating inside your home." Roy smiled when he heard Coal's barked response.

"I do love dogs."

"Well then, we're going to be getting along great. Now, who was this dog you said I looked like?" Roy and Coal stepped into the house, Coal smiled at the warmth of the house. "Well, I merely step inside and it feels comfortable. This place is great." Coal walked over to a fireplace and lay on the rug; she lifted her head when she heard Roy talking on the phone.

"Yes, I have a pet now. I'm going to bring her to work with me tomorrow; I think Black Hayate will enjoy meeting her!"

"Black Hayate…I wonder who that is. Eh, I guess I'll get to meet him tomorrow."

* * *

There's the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! Drop a review and let me know what you think! 


	2. Fall to Sleep

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 2 (Fall to sleep)

Black Hayate lay next to Riza's desk with his eyes shut. Roy was late to the office again, Hayate didn't think much of it and did not care so much. The one thing that concerned him was Riza telling him he'd be meeting someone special or something, he wasn't thrilled with that. The last time someone said he'd be meeting someone; it was an overly playful dog that kept running into him. Oddly enough that dog, Den, became one of his best friends. His ear perked up when he heard Riza talking. "Good Morning sir, you're late again."

"I know I am, but I had to get Coal ready for the car ride. I wasn't sure if she was ready for car rides and stuff. There's a lot to learn when owning a new pet."

_"Who's Coal?"_ Hayate thought. _"Coal is probably nobody important."_

"It's another one!" Breda exclaimed as he jumped onto his desk. Hayate didn't even bother to move.

"I would say it'd be okay, fearful human who has no courage, but it seems like that may not be the case. It doesn't matter really."

"Oh, she's so cute," Fuery said. Hayate grumbled in his sleep, he did not like being distracted from his dreams.

"You never told us you wanted to get a pet, Colonel," Falman said with a chuckle.

"Okay…someone is getting attention and it's not me." Hayate opened his eyes to see a lovely female dog standing in front of him. She was being patted on the head and back. Hayate shook his head and walked over to Coal. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I'm Coal…I suppose you're the one known as Black Hayate?"

"Yeah, you do realize you're in my territory, right?"

"I can't help it if my master wanted to bring me to work." Coal turned her head to her side and walked over to Roy's desk.

"Yeah, I bet you couldn't." Hayate grumbled and walked back to Riza's desk where he lay back down.

"Do you get the feeling there's some tension between those two?" Havoc asked quietly.

"Give them time," Roy said with a chuckle. "They'll come to like each other, all animals do!"

"It's not that simple flaming human," Hayate said under his breath. Hayate glared at Coal as she lay next to Roy's desk with her eyes closed. "I hope Den gets here soon, he'll definitely make the day interesting." Hayate continued to look at Coal. _"She does look good…"_ Hayate thought. _"What am I thinking? She's an annoying dog who showed up at probably the wrong time for me."_ Soon lunch hour was ready; Roy and Riza were the last to leave.

"Okay, we'll be back soon," Roy said with a smile. "You two will have to stay here."

_"What!"_ Hayate watched as Roy and Riza left the room. _"Damn it…" _Hayate sighed as he slowly stood up and walked over to Coal.

"Oh, and here I thought I'd have to walk over to you," Coal said with a chuckle.

"Shut up…So, what is your name again?"

"Coal, it is short for Charcoal." Coal stood up and smiled politely.

"Great…Well, I'm Hayate, it's wonderful to meet you."

"It didn't seem like that in your tone of voice, but then again, I suppose being a man that you are like that."

"What, do you have something against men or something?"

"No, I don't have anything against men."

"So then, that was sarcasm?" Coal smirked and walked by Hayate and looked at the closed door.

"You could look at it that way. I'm guessing we're stuck in here."

"Yeah, that stinks…"

"You don't feel like being here while I'm in the room?"

"It's not like that." Coal shrugged and walked over to the window and gazed out of it. Hayate sighed and waked over to her. "So how did you come to know the flaming human?"

"He found me yesterday. I actually came from a kennel." The dogs looked over at the door to see it open. Den walked into the room and smiled.

"Have fun with Black Hayate," Winry said with a smile. "I'm going to go meet up with the Colonel and Lieutenant for lunch, I'll be back later." Winry closed the door and Den walked up to Hayate and Coal.

"Who's this?" Den asked as he looked from Coal to Hayate. He let out a suggestive smile and caused Hayate to look at Coal and blush.

"She's nobody important!"

"Oh, so I'm not important?" Coal asked.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Hayate growled and looked away. "Den…You don't want to get on my bad side."

"Well I'm so_sorry_, Hayate," Den said as he rolled his eyes. "It's not often that a girl is actually seen talking to you." Coal let out a chuckle while Hayate growled.

"What! Why you little…"

"Okay, yeah I'm joking. Girls, they love you." Hayate rolled his eyes and sighed. "Seriously though, who is the girl?"

"Her name is Coal. She's the flame human's new dog."

"Yeah, I was in a way adopted into his home just yesterday," Coal said with a subtle smile. "Who are you?"

"I am Den; the woman you just saw is my owner." Coal nodded and looked at Den's leg.

"You have automail, what happened to your leg?"

"It was uh…an accident."

"I see." Hayate glanced at Coal's paws to get a closer look at something he saw earlier.

"You have transmutation circles on your paws!" Hayate said quickly. Coal sighed and looked away.

_"Great, that probably will ruin the chances of friendship."_ Coal sat down and grumbled. "Yes, I can perform alchemy, so what!"

"Is there something wrong with that? I don't see anything wrong with it." Coal raised her eyebrow and looked to Hayate.

"What are you talking about? Nobody likes a dog that can do alchemy…At least that's what they said to me at the kennel. All the other dogs said I'd never get adopted because of my alchemy…" Hayate and Den looked at each other with a frown before looking back to Coal. Hayate decided to walk over to Coal and smile.

"You were adopted, and your owner uses alchemy too."

"That's probably why he doesn't dislike me. That says nothing for my friends though."

"You shouldn't worry about what other people think," Den said quietly. "There's nothing wrong with being able to perform alchemy."

"Yeah that's true," Hayate responded with a nod. "I may not be able to use alchemy but I know that it's not a problem to have it and I'm friends with some dog alchemists." Coal raised her eyebrow and looked at Hayate.

"If you are, then who is an alchemist?"

"I'm an alchemist," Den said as he glanced to his metal leg. "I've seen the gate and all…" Coal watched with wide eyes as Den lifted his paw and brought it to the ground causing a spike to come from the ground.

"Wow…How did you do that without a circle though? That's not possible unless you've…you didn't try an animal transmutation, did you?" Den sighed and slowly nodded his head.

"I transmuted my own godmother…She died so long ago though and when I did this, I lost my front leg. My owner put this automail leg on me and it's been great ever since!"

"I see…Well I can work with flame alchemy. That's just like my owner I think."

"Yeah, the flame human is known as the Flame Alchemist, what else is new?" Hayate stated.

"Well anyway, yesterday afternoon I had left the kennel that shunned me. They would always ridicule me and really, I didn't care, I just grew annoyed with them and left. Then I ran into this Doberman who did not like alchemist dogs…His name was Scar." Hayate's eyes widened and he looked over at Den and back to Coal.

"There's a human that has the name Scar, he tries to kill the Flame Alchemist all the time. He also tries to kill all state alchemists."

"Oh, does he have a strange tattoo on his arm?"

"Yes."

"Well then, that's odd."

"Well don't worry about us not liking you," Den said with a smile.

"I know probably do, I'm not so sure about this man over here." Coal smirked and nodded toward Hayate. "He's been so tense all day, staring at me like I have another leg growing out of me." Den sighed and shook his head.

"He acted like that when I came around, don't worry about it. Hayate is nicer than he seems."

"Why are you people talking about me?" Hayate asked. "It's like you're talking about me behind my back, while I am still _here_."

"Oh well we're so sorry king Hayate," Coal said with a snicker. "We did not mean to talk about your royal highness. I'm sure we'll go speak of your other loyal subjects."

"That was sarcasm…."

"Oh, was it really? I didn't notice." Hayate growled slightly as Coal smirked and rolled her eyes. Den started to roll on the floor and laugh, causing Hayate to glare at him.

"Quit that, it's not funny!"

"I think it's hilarious, you're the funniest man I've ever met."

"Again with the sarcasm, cut that out lady!"

"Oh, what sarcasm was that? I thought I just complimented you. Of course, you're probably able to realize a compliment that easily."

"Again…cut that out." Hayate narrowed his eyes and glared at Coal, she did the same. Den whistled and walked to the other side of the room and sat down.

"It's _way _to tense in here," Den said quietly.

"I heard that!" Hayate said quickly.

"How is your hearing, Mr. Big Shot?" Coal asked. "I was wondering what you were thinking about earlier, you were staring at me all day. Maybe I was intruding on your territory or something."

"Well I'm not that fond of newcomers…"

"Oh, well I'm sorry, I'll gladly not return here if that's what you desire!"

"I didn't mean it like that, actually…"

"Oh, well the how did you mean that? After all I'm a newcomer; I'm not one of you."

"Could you two stop fighting over there?" Den asked while noticing the fighting stance both dogs were taking. The door opened and everyone returned to the office.

"I hope you dogs were getting along," Roy said quietly.

"Yeah, they don't look like they would be getting along," Riza stated as the dogs looked over at their owners. Roy and Riza walked back to their desks and began working on whatever was on their desk.

"I have a question for you, Hayate," Coal said with a low whisper.

"What?"

"Are those two together yet?"

"Who, Roy and my master, no they're not together yet. They would be perfect together though…"

"I would say we should try to get them together but then if they get married, that means I have to move in with you and you might not like that."

"Oh hush up already." Den rolled his eyes and glanced out the window, his eyes grew large.

"Hey, guys, what's that light out there?" Hayate and Coal walked over to the window and looked out. In the far distance there was a bright light that started to shine brightly. In an instant the light flashed all over Amestris, the three dogs closed their eyes and looked away, their eyes sensitive to the light. When they opened their eyes they noticed Roy and Riza asleep at their desks, Havoc lay on one side of the room, Breda in another corner.

"What the hell just happened," Hayate said quietly.

"I'm not sure, as you can see though, everyone in this room is asleep," Coal stated. She looked out the window and stared at the ground. "I think there are people lying on the ground outside…"

"Let's get out of this room and see if there's anybody that happens to be awake."

"I would go with you, but I'm not sure you want me along. I'll stay here."

"That's fine by me." Hayate and Den started to walk away but Den stopped him.

"Hayate, you know you don't mean that," Den stated. "Get your stubborn butt over there and apologize." Hayate glanced over at Coal, she was sitting by the window and gazing out as if unaffected by his earlier words.

"Who says I didn't mean it?" Den growled and touched his flesh paw to his metal paw causing a metal blade to come out. "Oh okay…fine…" Hayate walked next to Coal and sat down beside her. Both dogs sat and stared out the window as though staring at something that was not there.

"I would have thought you'd be gone by now," Coal said.

"Hell no, I'm not leaving without you with us."

"Oh and why is that? I thought I would just be useless to you."

"You might be useless in the rain…" Coal's eyebrow twitched and she sighed. "I'm sorry for my words, come with us; you'll be bored here by yourself. Besides, we'll return here later, all we're doing is checking to see if those people on the ground outside are awake or not."

"Fine, I'll come with you. Although it might be a bit on the uncomfortable side…"

"Why is that?"

"You and Den are two males, I am not a male."

"So, that doesn't mean anything at all."

"Yeah, well, let's see if our masters are alive and then we'll go find out about everyone else."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Den looked over at the two and smiled, he figured he shouldn't say anything but thought that it wouldn't be long before Coal and Hayate became friends.

* * *

There's the second, I put this up with the prologue because I felt like it. Let me know what you think! Remember if you were one of the ones that wanted a dog story related to that oneshot, then let me know what you think of this because I'm doing this for you! 


	3. Heat

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

A/N: Three chapters in one day..._NEVER_ expect this again. Enjoy the read.

* * *

Chapter 3 (Heat)

The three dogs stepped outside of Central Headquarters and looked around; people were lying all over the place. "Do you suppose that flash of light is the cause of this?" Hayate asked.

"Yeah, probably," Den responded. Hayate sniffed the air and groaned. "What's wrong, Hayate?"

"Nothing…Where is Coal?" Hayate and Den looked around and noticed that Coal was not with them.

"She's probably still upset with you." Hayate sniffed the air and shook his head.

"No, I don't think that is the case."

"Then what do you think it is?"

"I could be wrong you know." Hayate sniffed the air and groaned again. _"There are several dogs in Central, mostly female." _Hayate lie on the ground and put his paws on his muzzle. "Whoever it is, she's at least ten days…"

"Did you say something Hayate?"

"No."

"What's wrong?" Den walked over to Hayate and nudged him with his paw.

"I'm fine." Hayate stood up and looked around. _"I need to find something to dab on my nose in order to mask this smell."_ Hayate walked over to someone who was lying on the ground. "Den, help me search some of these bodies."

"Shouldn't we find Coal first?"

_"Yes, finding her first is a priority." _Hayate growled slightly and quickly rubbed his nose in a patch of grass and mud.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"Den…You go find Coal." Den's eyes narrowed as he glared at Hayate.

"You should do that yourself you know." Hayate continued rubbing his nose in the grass and some other places.

"Yes, I know I should, but there are several reasons why I should _not_ go to see her." Hayate brought his head up from someone's shirt and groaned. _"I don't think she would be…I need to maintain my sense of calmness and control, there could be several dogs in this condition right now. Yet, it doesn't seem like the case right now."_

"Fine, I'll go find her." Den rolled his eyes and turned around to walk away.

_"Sorry about that, Den, I would find her but I don't think it'd be a good idea for some reason."_

------------------

Coal sat in an alleyway and groaned as she pawed the floor. "I should have suspected it…This is the day it starts getting bad."

"Coal, are you in here?" A voice asked. The voice caused Coal to leap up and growl. She looked over and saw Den.

"Don't come any closer, Den!" Den tilted his head to the side with a confused look.

"Why?"

"Are you neutered, by any chance?" Den raised his eyebrow and looked at Coal who was staring at him with intensity.

"Uh…I don't see what that has to do with anything…but yes, I'm neutered."

"Okay, so you probably don't smell it then."

"What are you talking about?"

"Hayate's probably noticed…Is he neutered as well?"

"That's not really any business that…"

"Is he neutered?" Den made note of the sharp and serious tone in her voice. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't think he's been neutered, but you'd have to ask him for yourself."

"Doubt is enough to tell. You do know what happens when a female goes into heat, am I right?"

"Yeah, I've heard about that."

"It's been about ten days since I've been in heat. There is no doubt that Hayate's noticed, Hayate and every other unneutered male dog within the vicinity."

"Well he was acting a little weird earlier."

"What was he doing?"

"He was sniffing the air, groaning and rubbing his nose through several different items." Coal chuckled in response to this and tried to imagine Hayate doing these things.

"Well I'm guessing that means he's trying to get a sense of control. Sadly, it is difficult for a male dog to control his impulses when it comes to a female dog in heat."

"So what do you intend to do about that? Do you intend to stay back while we go looking for the place that light came from?"

"Hell no, that'd be even worse…You do know how many dogs there are in Central alone, right?"

"I'm from Risembool so I wouldn't know."

"There are over five thousand male dogs and over five thousand female dogs. Luckily I shouldn't be the only female dog in this area that would be in heat, so Hayate probably won't suspect it's me right away. However there are five thousand male dogs that will probably want to mount me."

"Wouldn't the term be mate?"

"No. Only because most of the male dogs here in central don't just stay with the female dog, they tend to mount the dog and leave."

"Oh…How do you know how many dogs there are?"

"The kennel did a statistics count, there were about five thousand male dogs, that's what I read. I also read that there are a little over half of those dogs living on the streets as strays. I didn't see any statistics on how many of them were neutered, but I suspect that it's not that many."

"Oh, well I don't think you'll have to worry about Hayate, he seems to have a good control over situations." Coal walked closer toward Den and looked out into the street.

"Has he ever been around a dog in heat?"

"I don't recall him ever being around one."

"Then he will have a hard time controlling his impulses. Trust me when I tell you this, male dogs tend to have difficulty when it comes to a woman in heat. I'm not looking for a mount, I'd rather have a mate and I should have thought about the fact that I was in heat before running from the kennel."

"Well you did mention that you had to get away from the kennel because they were always so mean."

"Yeah, well that was the case. If Hayate is trying to get some control over his impulses then that's good, he needs to try. Sometimes you can mask the smell of a dog in heat by putting another smell on a male dog's nose; he apparently knows this if he was rubbing his nose in other items earlier."

"He didn't seem to notice it earlier."

"I am a flame alchemist, for the first part of the ten days I was able to use my flame to make it seem like I wasn't in heat. Now that it's been ten days, doing that will no longer work, the scent has become far too strong."

"I understand. That's a good way to mask it. I've heard about your condition though, wouldn't you have been more aggressive the first ten days?"

"Yes, it's the first ten days that a dog in heat will not allow any males to mount her. On the tenth day is when it gets to the point that the female tends to allow any male dog to mount her. That is just impulse, but in my case I don't _want_ to be mounted unless I know for sure that the male is going to stick around. However at this time, impulse is often stronger than control and I probably won't be able to control what male comes around me. That's why I say I'm going to go on the journey with you but that's also why I needed to know if Hayate was neutered. Knowing that he's trying to cover up the scent of a female dog in heat by sniffing other smells, that tells me he's a man of integrity and probably is one of the few males in which control is stronger than impulse."

"That would be a good thing, it does mean he probably won't try and mount you."

"Yeah, perhaps we should go now, he's probably getting a little worried about where you're at."

"You don't think he'd be worried about you?"

"At this time, no I really don't think he'd be worried about me."

"I think he would be…" Coal and Den started walking down the street and stopped when Coal sniffed something.

"I should warn you about something, Den. Almost any dog loves meat; I however crave meat more than any dog. If you remember what I said about impulse being stronger than control, I can't control myself around meat."

"Oh…" Den sniffed the air and raised his eyebrow.

"So you smell it too? You smell the smell of meat. Excuse me one moment, Den." Den watched as Coal took off, he followed in quick pursuit. Den sighed when he saw Coal jump into a pile of meat that fell out of an overturned meat truck.

"Here I thought she was neat and tidy…" Den looked over to see Hayate walk up next to him.

"Den, have you found Coal yet?" Hayate asked with narrow eyes. Den almost laughed at the amount of items that covered Hayate's nose. He nodded his head and pointed toward the meat pile. Hayate raised his eyebrow and looked over to see Coal rolling around in the meat.

"She has difficulty controlling herself when around meat."

"I noticed…Charcoal Mustang get out of the meat pile!" Hayate ran into the meat pile and grabbed Coal's collar. He commenced to drag her kicking and screaming from the meat pile. He was actually surprised to see that she had a collar, but Roy probably didn't wait to go buy her one.

"Don't let go of her, we probably should get her far away from the meat."

"She needs some composure, that's for sure," Hayate said while holding Coal's collar in his mouth. Den nodded and pressed his paw to the ground causing a large dome of metal to cover the meat pile. Once this happened, Coal calmed down and noticed she was in Hayate's grip.

"Put me down you dang mutt!" Coal shouted.

"I'll do that…with pleasure." Hayate roughly placed her back on the ground. "Nice collar, Coal."

"Yeah, thanks for getting rid of the meat, I might have been there all day…"

"Was this where you disappeared to earlier?" Hayate raised his eyebrow and Coal thought for a moment before nodding her head.

"Yeah, so what if I was here, it doesn't make any difference."

"The hell it doesn't, it holds us back."

"Well I'm _so_ sorry if I held you back. Maybe you should just leave without me then!"

"Wrong answer, I'm not leaving without you, I think we've already discussed that. We all have something that may hold us back, that's why the other two of us will be able to assist in that. Den over there is guilty of being a bit too playful, so you and I will have to keep him away from anything that might cause him to start playing all over the place. It's evident that you have a weakness to meat, so Den and I can work with you on that. Me…Well you don't need to know anything about that…Let's go." Hayate started to walk away and Coal watched him leave as she raised her eyebrow.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He doesn't like talking about himself," Den said as he stepped next to Coal. "Come on, let's get moving." Coal stood up and started walking with Den.

"You're his best friend; do you know anything about what might hinder him?"

"Yeah, but since he didn't feel like telling you, I probably shouldn't tell you either. He'll let you know whatever it is you want to know about him, when he feels like telling you." Hayate, who was ahead of the group, looked back at Den and Coal with a sigh. "Let me give you a little hint though, there is a reason he's learned to control himself when it comes to female dogs in heat." Den stopped talking when he heard Hayate growl slightly. Coal looked at Hayate and chuckled softly.

"Well then, I think I have an idea about what his hindrance is," Coal stated with a smirk. _"So does he have trouble when it comes to an attractive lady? Wait…he seems to have perfect composure when it comes to me…Does that mean he doesn't think I'm attractive? Should I be insulted by this?"_ Coal narrowed her eyes and Den saw her tense up out of the corner of his eyes.

_"I think she figured it out."_ Coal and Den noticed something fall from Hayate's face and saw him stiffen up. "Uh, Hayate, what's wrong?"

"Very strong scent meeting my nose," Hayate said quietly. Coal chuckled nervously; it appeared that Hayate lost whatever scent he had that was blocking her scent. Den moved his head toward Coal's ear and whispered.

"How long will this last?" Den asked.

"It can go for about thirty days," Coal whispered in return.

"Ah. Well then, I'm guessing Hayate will have to control himself for thirty days."

"Well if he wants…What am I saying? Do you see what I mean by impulse versus control?"

"If you two are done chitchatting back there, we have a visitor," Hayate said quietly. Den and Coal lifted their heads and saw a large Doberman standing in front of them.

"Oh, great…It's Scar."

"Yes, it's me, flame dog. It's time for your judgment day."

"Well, as promised, since I found an owner, I get to let you _try_ to kill me."

"There will be no trying, I will send God's wrath upon you." Hayate's eyes narrowed, he sighed as he stepped in front of Coal.

"Scar, that's your name I believe," Hayate stated. "Are you ignoring the two dogs that are with her right now? If so, then great, we'll fight you without you even noticing us. I hate to tell you this, but you're not laying a paw on this woman."

"Oh, why is that? Is she all yours or something?" Hayate and Coal raised their eyebrows, Coal knew the hidden meaning behind that. It appeared that Scar figured out that she was in heat, which meant Scar was either going to act on impulse and then kill her, or control his impulse and kill her.

"I'm not sure what you meant by that, she isn't anybody's to control or something…"

"That's not what I meant. I'm sure you realize-"

"Scar, are you going to talk or are you going to fight!" Coal shouted. She didn't need Hayate realizing that out of all the dogs, it was her that was in heat.

"Are you that eager to die?" Scar asked with a small chuckle. "I would think you'd want someone to m-"

"Shut up already!" Coal charged toward Scar and swiped her claws against his neck. Scar snarled and swiped his paw toward Coal; she dodged and slashed Scar across the face. She leapt back and growled, "How about I burn another scar into that face of yours?" Coal snapped her nails and sent a burst of flames toward Scar. He dodged and charged toward Coal and slashed her across the leg. He then gripped her around the neck with his teeth and tossed her to the side.

"No, Coal!" Hayate growled and leapt in between Coal and Scar. He took a fighting stance as Scar stood straight. "Scar, you bastard, you better fight me instead!"

"I can handle myself," Coal said as she rolled her eyes. Scar chuckled and looked back to see Den turn his automail into a blade.

"I'll take you on myself if I have to," Den said.

"So there's another alchemist with you," Scar said with a sneer. "Today is surely a good day!" Scar started to ignore Hayate and run toward Coal, she was still on the ground. He didn't get very far past Hayate before Hayate gripped Scar by the neck and tossed him to the ground.

"Did I not say for you to fight me?" Hayate asked. "So, fight me!"

"Unless you're an alchemist, then I do not care for you."

"That will be your undoing." Hayate gripped Scar with his teeth once more and tossed Scar into a wall.

"Don't forget about me!" Den exclaimed as he slashed Scar with his blade.

"Damn it!" Scar stood up and quickly ran off. "I'll be back!" Hayate huffed and turned around to Coal.

"Are you alright?" Coal scoffed as she stood up.

"I could have handled that just fine," Coal said quietly.

"So sue me, I'm a fiercely loyal dog."

"Heh, you shouldn't suggest suing to someone that might be tempted to do that."

"You're a dog; you couldn't sue me if you tried." Hayate turned to walk away, fully expecting Den and Coal to follow, they did. "Another thing, Coal, try and keep away from dogs that want to mount you. It appeared in Scar's eyes that he had that idea in mind." Coal's eyes widened when Hayate said this, had he figured it out?

"You found out that-"

"You were in heat; I figured that out some time ago. It's easy to mask the smell of a female in heat up to the point that they get very close to you. When they get close, it becomes difficult to mask the smell."

"I didn't think of that…However that does _not_ make me a liability!"

"Don't worry, I never said it did. You'll make a great asset to have with us, Den's lucky he doesn't have to try and control yet another impulse that he would have. I wouldn't expect you to be a liability, but if it comes down to me trying to protect you, don't stop me. Protecting others is in my nature, you should know this as well."

"Yeah…"

"Oh, and don't worry about me mounting you, I don't have such a desire." Coal huffed after her eyebrow twitched.

_"I shouldn't be insulted by that."_ Coal looked away and shrugged. "That's fine by me; I wouldn't want you anywhere near me in that case." Hayate's eyebrow twitched slightly.

_"That shouldn't bother me at all."_ Den took note of the tension in the air and rolled his eyes.

"When will these two learn to get along?" Den asked with a sigh.

* * *

There you go. Hope you've enjoyed it up to this point. 


	4. Tension

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 4 (Tension)

"You know, my master was coming out of a jewelry store when he found me," Coal said with a smile. Hayate looked over to Coal and nodded for her to continue.

"So what happened?"

"He told me that he was planning to propose to the greatest woman on earth."

"That has to be my master."

"Do you think so? He did have a picture of her somewhere in his house."

"You two get to become roommates if they get married," Den said with a small chuckle. Hayate and Coal's eyes widened and their jaws dropped. Den narrowed his eyes and sighed, "You guys honestly expect me to believe that you don't like each other?"

"It's nothing like that Den," Hayate said as he looked to the side.

"Why would I like this jerk?" Coal asked.

"Hey!" Hayate turned his head to glare at Coal, she glared in return.

"What? Do you not have a comeback?"

"Don't start acting all high and mighty, flame brain."

"_What_ did you just call me?" Coal growled slightly and Hayate growled in return.

"You heard me!"

"That's it mutt, you're dead!"

"I'm no mutt! I'm one hundred percent Shiba Inu, you're the mutt!"

"I am a complete Shiba Inu; there is no other breed of dog in me! You cannot call me a mutt, you filthy mongrel!"

"That's the same thing, cut that out, I am not a mongrel!"

"You sure act like one!"

"You're acting like one too!"

"You think you're better than me?"

"Shut up! I know I am!" Den rolled his eyes and sighed, he wasn't a Shiba Inu but he always thought they got along with their own kind. Den continued to walk ahead as Hayate and Coal argued with one another.

_"Sooner or later they're going to stop arguing with one another, unless it's just masking something deeper," _Den thought. He stopped walking and looked back at the two._ "Maybe I'm the only one seeing this, but they do seem to go well with one another. If they would only stop arguing then maybe they'd be friends."_ Den shook his head and let out a sigh."Hey, you two, was the light in this direction?" Hayate and Coal looked over at Den and then toward where they were walking.

"I think so," Hayate stated. "It has something to do with Amestris falling to sleep, I'm sure. If we continue this way, we may just find the item that we're looking for."

"Of course we don't know what it is that we're looking for."

"True, but I suspect we'll know when we see it," Coal said quietly. Den nodded his head and watched as Hayate and Coal walked ahead of him.

"I wonder how I can make them be friendlier toward each other," Den said quietly.

"What was that, Den?" Hayate asked as he looked back.

"Nothing, I said nothing at all."

"Okay then, I'll leave it at that."

"Hey, look over there!" Coal said quickly as she pointed her paw in one direction. "Yet another person affected by that light." Hayate sighed and walked over toward the person.

"Oh, it's the human that's always after state alchemists," Hayate said with a chuckle.

"Can we bury him in sand?" Den asked with a wide grin. "It would be so fun!"

"No, we may not bury the man in sand."

"Fine…Hey Hayate, how far from here is Liore?"

"Not that far, why?" Hayate raised his eyebrow and stared at Den.

"No reason, I was wondering if we would be passing through Liore."

"No."

"Why? It's probably the closest village!"

"There's a certain annoying hound I'd like to avoid…Running into her would prove to be hazardous." Coal's ears perked up and she looked over at Hayate.

"If it's the closest village, then maybe we should stop there," Coal said with a smirk. "We've been walking for hours I believe, it'd be good to rest."

"So we'll stop at the village _after_ that."

"Come on, that Shiba Inu can't be all that bad," Den said with a smirk. "Okay I think she's annoying and perhaps a little too…clingy…Yet there's nothing wrong with her."

"Oh, another Shiba Inu, I'd love to meet her!" Coal said with a bigger smirk. Hayate sighed and sat down.

"How tired are you, Coal?" Hayate asked.

"Do you care?"

"Yes I care, how tired are you?"

"I am exhausted."

"Okay, and what about you, Den?"

"Yeah, I'm getting a little tired."

"Fine, we'll stop in Liore, but wherever we stop, I'm staying inside!"

"How bad can this girl be?" Den asked. "I've met her before; she didn't seem all that bad."

"You met the psycho very briefly."

"She's not a psycho. You're only saying that…"

"She believed Father Cornello was actually using the power of God, when it was obvious and clear as the sky that he was _not_ using God's power. God wouldn't give humans His power, instead the priest was using a fake philosopher's stone. She's nuts and clearly that's what she is!"

"So how far are from Liore?" Coal asked with a sigh. She didn't really want to go to Liore but she was extremely tired, which was odd enough.

"We'll get there soon enough," Hayate said. "We'll probably arrive too soon." Coal nodded and walked over to where Den was.

"So, what is his problem exactly?" Den shrugged and shook his head.

"There's this one female dog named Rose, just like her owner, she has a little pink hair on the side of her face. Hayate doesn't like her; he calls her a blatant fangirl."

"A fangirl huh, just how clingy is she? Who is she to Hayate?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"No reason just interested…"

"She's pretty clingy; she tends to be a bit on the territorial side as well."

"She's territorial, how?"

"Not that many people get around Hayate when he's in Liore, not many people see him without her hanging around either…" Coal nodded and made an 'Hm' sound.

"I won't be perceived as a threat, will I?"

"Not unless you like Hayate, and from what I've seen…" Coal narrowed her eyes and looked at Den.

"You haven't seen much of anything just yet."

"That is true."

"I don't really care who this girl is either, if she likes Hayate then that's fine with me. Though I do wonder why you were so intent on Hayate going into Liore. If there's some woman he doesn't like and wishes to avoid her, then he shouldn't have to be forced to see her."

"I don't think he's being forced, he said he's going to hide away anyways."

"Does she usually seek him out?"

"Sometimes, if I'm there or his master is in Liore, she will hunt him out."

"She's a Shiba Inu, right?"

"Yes."

"You do realize that a Shiba Inu is known for its hunting skills, right?"

"Yeah, what difference does it make though?"

"It makes no difference." Coal sighed and trotted up next to Hayate. "Do you really not want to go to Liore?" Hayate raised his eyebrow and looked to Coal, he had heard every word she and Den spoke, they spoke as if he couldn't hear.

"I don't really care right now. If it can get you and Den some rest then I'm happy."

"Well okay then." They stopped walking when they saw a man and a Lhasa dog walking toward them. "Who's that, and why is that human not asleep?"

"That's Hoenheim," Den said quietly. "Perhaps he was in another country…" The dog ran up to Den and the others.

"Hey, what's going on here?" The dog asked.

"All humans have been put to sleep and we don't know what happened."

"It could have been Dante…"

"Care to explain who that is?"

"It's an evil witch; she wants the philosopher's stone for her own gain!"

"There's not a dog or human that doesn't know what the philosopher's stone is," Hayate said with a low growl. "You suspect she has something to do with this?"

"It's possible…My master and I are wandering through, we were not in the country earlier but we saw a light flash. I suspect it could be the one known as Dante."

"I see…Well, we are going to Liore and we're going to rest."

"Since when did Hoenheim have a dog?" Den asked.

"He adopted me just the other day."

"Oh."

"Will you stick around?" Hayate asked.

"No, I don't think it'd be appropriate for me." The dog glanced over at Coal and Hayate looked over too and huffed.

"Why do you look at her?"

"She might feel uncomfortable with another male dog around her while she's in heat." Coal took offence to this statement and started to charge toward the dog only to have Hayate put up his paw to stop her. "Sorry if I offended you ma'am. I will be on my way now. Remember this, stick together because I think the human homunculi have dog homunculi with them…" Hayate raised his eyebrow as the dog ran to catch up with his master.

"Interesting, I suppose we'll have to look out for these homunculi." Hayate looked at Coal and sighed. "Try to control yourself if someone says or does something offensive."

"You don't need to order me around."

"Yeah, I'm sure I don't…Let's go." Hayate walked off and Coal growled slightly.

"That man…is so…infuriating!"

"Oh, he's nicer once you really get to know him," Den said with a smile. Coal merely scowled and continued to walk. _"You're going to enjoy meeting Rose…Maybe not…It depends on how she feels about Hayate. She probably won't care at all."_

"Why are you staring at me, Den?" Coal asked with narrow eyes. "Do I have something on me?"

"No, I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare."

"How many males do you suspect will try to mount you?" Hayate asked. A very faint growl was heard from his throat.

"Probably every unneutered male that we come across," Coal said quietly.

"Oh…okay then." Hayate grumbled slightly and let out a sigh. _"Great, this is going to be annoying…All those males coming for Coal…I know I shouldn't care, but…I'd hate to think that she gets mounted by a male that runs off. She deserves a mate, probably."_ They stopped walking when they saw a nail shoot past their heads. "What the hell!"

"Hello there boys, and female," A voice said. They looked over to see Lust standing near them. "I am Lust."

"I thought Lust was human," Hayate said with a snicker.

"We homunculi are dogs, yes there were human homunculi, and they're dead now."

"Oh, I see."

"So, Hayate, I hear you don't like to fight girls."

"Were did you hear that, I can guarantee it's not true." Lust smirked and walked toward Hayate causing him to tense up; Coal looked over with wide eyes.

"Then hit me, Hayate."

"Heh…Tell me something, homunculus, do you have something to do with putting the humans to sleep?"

"Yes, they are going to sleep forever, or at least until Dante makes a philosopher's stone that each human in Amestris will be sacrificed to."

"I see, well then we will stop you."

"Will you do that?" Lust put her muzzle next to Hayate's ear and blew into it. "I got a secret, I am constantly in heat."

"I don't think I care."

"It's not like you belong to anybody, perhaps you'd like to have some fun? Perhaps you'd enjoy some fun before you die?" Hayate tensed up and started to sweat, why did women have to be his weakness? Coal tried to ignore Lust, she didn't even care what Hayate did, but she was getting annoyed.

"Hey, Lust, back away from Hayate," Coal said with a growl. Lust chuckled and looked at Coal.

"Why, are you in love with him?"

"Hell no, I don't even give a damn about him!" Coal managed to keep herself from blushing at the statement. "I just think you need to keep away from Hayate, he doesn't like you!"

"Do you know who or what he likes?" Coal growled and snapped her nails causing a burst of flame to hit the cocker spaniel. "Crap!" Lust jumped back and saw Den glaring at Lust as well as Hayate, Coal was growling fiercely. "I suppose I'll leave for now, bye!" Lust quickly ran off and Coal relaxed.

"Stupid hussy, let's go guys." Coal swiftly walked off, Den and Hayate looked at each other before following after. _"Great, now I'll just have to see what this Rose is like."_

"Hayate, do you detect any tension in the air right now?" Den asked.

"No, I detect no tension whatsoever," Hayate said quietly. Den noted the sarcasm in Hayate's voice.

* * *

There's the chapter, here it'll be getting interesting. Drop a review and let me know what you think and I'll update 


	5. Rose and Al

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 5 (Rose and Al)

"Well, this is Liore," Hayate said with a sigh. "Home of several dogs, though not that many…"

"Liore seems like a nice place," Coal said with a small nod.

"Yeah, you might say that…Anyway; let's go find a place to stay for the time being."

"Ah, I could collapse right here to be honest."

"Go ahead; I'm not going to carry you or anything."

"I wasn't asking you to do that, Hayate."

"Yeah, let's just take the back route."

"Why?"

"He doesn't want to run into Rose," Den whispered.

"Apparently that seems to be the case."

"You know, I wonder about Alphonse Elric…"

"What do you mean, Den?"

"Well, he's a suit of armor, not exactly human, shouldn't he be awake?"

"Could be…where would he be?"

"The Elric brothers were supposed to be in Liore. Maybe they're here!"

"Wouldn't do much good searching for someone who would be asleep," Hayate said from in front of the two.

"Come on Hayate, let's go find them," Den said quickly. "Who knows what might happen!"

"We'll run into Rose, that's what will happen. I'm not fond of that idea."

"Then you go find a place to stay and we'll go find them," Coal said as she rolled her eyes. "After all, if Alphonse Elric is still awake, we could use him, though he wouldn't understand us or anything."

"With all the males that would be here, I'd rather you not go out there, Coal. I think there's another female in heat…It's probably Rose…oh brother…"

"Some women do tend to try and get the male to mount them when in heat." Coal looked at Hayate with a smirk, "I suppose there's nothing to worry about. You do have a good sense of control over your impulses."

"Yeah, at least I'm not surrounded by a million females in heat."

"I have an idea!" Den said quickly. "You go look for Al and Ed, while I look for a place to stay! That way if any males show up, Hayate can keep them away from Coal and if Rose shows up, Coal can keep her away from Hayate!"

"Uh, about that Den…" Coal and Hayate narrowed their eyes as Den ran off and left them behind. "He left us."

"Oh well, we'll just have to wait until he comes back and lets us know where he found shelter for the night," Coal stated.

"Yeah, but why do I get the feeling he's not planning to return to us for a while?" Coal shrugged and began walking away. "Hey, wait up!" Hayate ran next to Coal and looked around.

"You know, you don't _have_ to be with me, I can take care of myself just fine."

"Yeah, you probably can."

"Den ought to worry about us killing each other, given how we've been acting." Hayate chuckled and nodded in response.

"He probably figures we won't do anything to each other."

"Yeah, that's probably true."

"I hope we don't run into-"

"Hayate, it's you!" A voice exclaimed.

"…Rose…" Hayate narrowed his eyes and sighed as Rose ran next to Hayate and pushed Coal out of the way. _"Bad idea on your part Rose, I don't think Coal likes being pushed around like that."_ Hayate glanced at Coal who stood up and growled slightly.

"Who is this, is your sister or your cousin?" Rose asked.

"No."

"Then who is she and why is she talking to my guy?" Coal's eyebrow twitched and Hayate rolled his eyes.

"She's a friend of mine."

"Oh, so she's nothing more than a friend?" Rose looked at Coal and glanced up and down. "Okay, yeah, she doesn't look like anything anyone would be interested in." Rose looked back at Hayate and missed Coal baring her fangs.

"Oh no, nobody would ever be interested in her," Hayate responded with sarcasm dripping in his voice.

"Hayate, could you be so kind to go away for a minute?" Coal asked with feigned sweetness in her voice. Hayate nodded and walked away, when out of sight, Coal glared at Rose. "Okay you hussy, this is for pushing me and getting close to Hayate like that!" Coal leapt onto Rose and snarled, "And before you say anything I am _not_ jealous!"

"What I do?"

"You shoved me to the ground; I do _not_ like being shoved around!"

"Is there something going on between you and Hayate?"

"No, there is nothing going on between us!"

"So you _are_ jealous."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are, but I hate to tell you this, Hayate loves me." Rose pushed Coal off of her and stood up. "It's a known fact that he loves me."

"I don't really give a damn who he loves, but I highly doubt he has feelings for someone like you."

"He wouldn't have feelings for anyone like you either."

"Shut up!"

"Do you think he'd like someone like you?"

"I don't really give a damn." Coal took a deep breath and calmed herself down before stepping away from Rose. "So, are you in heat as well?"

"What if I am?"

"Go find a male that will mount you, but be smart enough to realize when there's a male that doesn't want to."

"Are you saying that Hayate doesn't desire that?"

"Did he make any movement on you?"

"Well, I guess he didn't…"

"I'm in heat and I've been traveling with him. So far he hasn't done anything with me either, so he's probably been neutered for all we know." Coal smirked inwardly and glanced to Rose who stood with a shocked expression on her face.

"Hayate, neutered? That would never happen!"

"Who's to say it couldn't happen, Rose? Perhaps his owner didn't want him breeding with anyone."

"Maybe he just wants to find the right person to mate."

"Oh…maybe that's the case." Rose smirked and Coal looked over at Rose with her eyebrow raised. "What are you smirking about?"

"From here on, you and I are rivals." Coal turned around with a look of confusion on her face.

"We're rivals for what?"

"We are rivals for the affection of Hayate, of course."

"I don't think I'm interested in playing that game."

"Who said it was a game?"

"Either way, I'm not interested in your shenanigans. For you see, I don't care if Hayate likes me or not."

"Yes you do, don't deny it."

"Shut up…Unless you want to be barbequed."

"Hey, there's no sense in denying what you're heart says."

"I only just met him, I feel nothing for him."

"Not even the slightest bit of attraction for him?"

"I feel _nothing_ for Black Hayate, thank you very much!"

"So then you won't mind if I take him to be my mount?"

"I suspect he'd be more interested in a mate…I'm also sure his owner wouldn't be fond of you."

"Okay, you wouldn't mind if I took him as my mate?"

"I don't really care. I'm pretty confident that it wouldn't happen in your life."

"What makes you so confident?"

"He seemed so eager to get the hell away from you and he doesn't even like you."

"So if that's your defense…"

"If we're both in heat, why are we in the same place? Wouldn't we just be giving off a stronger scent and attract more males in this general area?"

"I don't see what the problem with that is."

"You and I are different; you want to find any random male to have mount you. I want to find a suitable and permanent mate, so I don't really want to be bombarded by males."

"It's really no big deal."

"Yes, it is a big deal and I don't need to deal with that."

"We've been here all this time and no males have arrived."

"Yeah, I suppose that would be true if it wasn't for the several footsteps I hear running in our direction. Soon Coal and Rose found them surrounded by numerous males. "Perfect…"

"Don't worry; I'm usually able to get out of these situations easily."

"Okay, well then I'm not worried about _you_. Rather, I am worried about myself."

"Oh, yeah I would be worried if I were you." Coal watched as Rose ran off and she looked around to see several males still surrounding her.

"Okay you dumb males; I don't intend to let any of you mount me. Only one male will be able to be my mate, do any of you have what it takes to be my mate?" Coal sighed as she heard several shouts and calls.

"Coal, over here, quickly!" Coal looked over to see Hayate gesturing for her to run into an alleyway. She started to make her way toward Hayate when the males began surrounding her.

"Crap, get off me before I set you all on flames!"

"Hey, get off of her! She's not yours to touch or mount!" Hayate rushed in and kicked some of the males away from Coal. He grabbed her collar and dragged her into a nearby alley. Coal took a deep breath and sighed as she looked over at Hayate.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it." They heard barking and Hayate stepped in front of Coal and stared out of the alley to make sure the males didn't rush in at her. Coal looked up at Hayate and smiled briefly, she admired this part of Hayate.

"Hayate, do you think you found Al or anybody yet?"

"No, I didn't go searching just yet, you were still with Rose and a bunch of males started heading in your direction."

"Oh, so you just came to get me from all those males?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"That's a bit on the protective side."

"I'm protective, it's just who I am. My owner protects the one…She protects your owner a lot and so I think I should live like she does. Your owner wouldn't want something to happen to you while he was sleeping, would he?"

"Yeah, you're right; he wouldn't want anything to happen. Were you going to say something, you seemed like you were about to say something about your owner and then you stopped."

"No, there was nothing else I needed to say." Coal shrugged and watched as the males began to leave. "Though, I do actually wonder if Alphonse would be around here or not, did you enjoy meeting Rose?" Hayate snickered as Coal glared at him.

"As a matter of fact, I did not enjoy meeting her all that much."

"Yeah, I didn't think you would think much of her."

"What did you believe I'd think of her?"

"I don't know...I sort of expected you to get into a fight or something."

"I'd say we got into a fight, but I ended it before it started to get violent or anything."

"Aw man, I would have liked to see that fight happen. A cat fight between two female dogs." Coal narrowed her eyes and sighed.

"Yeah, I'm sure you would have_ loved_ seeing that fight happen, Hayate."

"It's not every day that I get to see two female dogs fighting each other over who knows what."

"Be lucky you don't see it every day, when a female starts fighting, we have a tendency to attack the male."

"You wouldn't attack me, would you?" Coal chuckled and swatted Hayate on the side of his face before running off. "Hey, you get back here, why is it you did that!"

"I felt like it!" They ran through the streets of Liore until finally running into something large.

"Coal, are you alright!" Hayate exclaimed as he ran over to Coal. She groaned as she stood up.

"I'm fine, I just ran into this…" Coal looked up to see a large suit of armor sitting in front of them. "I ran into this armor…"

"It's Alphonse Elric!" Al turned to look at the dogs and smiled.

"Hey, it's the Lieutenant's dog. If only you could talk, I'd ask you if everyone outside of Liore was asleep."

"They are, but you wouldn't understand that."

"You dogs seem to know what you're doing, I would take care of you but I want to stay here with brother until he wakes up."

"Typical…He won't even be waking up until we figure out what to do."

"Yeah, let's go find Den and sleep for the night, I'm tired," Coal stated.

"Yeah, and we should talk to him about leaving us alone together on purpose…"

* * *

There's the chapter, hope you enjoyed it! 


	6. The Translator

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

Since I had time to kill and I got two chapters done in one night, I've posted two, don't expect it often though.

* * *

Chapter 6 (The translator)

The next day the dogs were on the road once more, Den and Coal walked behind Hayate. "Why don't you ever walk up there with Hayate?" Den asked.

"I do, but sometimes I don't…Why would I want to walk next to that jerk, anyway?"

"Why do you think he's a jerk?"

"Uh…well…" Coal shifted her eyes to the side in thought. "He just is!" Den chuckled and thought he saw Hayate stifle a chuckle.

"You don't have anything, do you?"

"Okay, how about this? He's stubborn, idiotic, overprotective, strong, hand…I'm stopping now."

"What was that last one?" Coal shifted her eyes toward Den.

"Shut up." Coal sighed and looked back. "Ever since we've left, I've been hearing the creaking sound of metal."

"Yeah, that's the sound of Al's legs. He's following us and probably doesn't suspect we know he's behind us."

"He's pretty good at hiding."

"Yeah, I only wonder how long it'll be until he stops hiding." Coal nodded and looked over at Hayate.

"I'm pretty sure Hayate hears him too."

"Yeah, I think he does. I wonder how long it'll be until Hayate gets tired of being followed by Al."

"Probably won't be that long." Den shrugged his shoulders.

"Hayate has a pretty calm temperament; he could probably knowingly be followed by enemies and not lash out. Usually, he'll be the second to strike an opponent."

"Really, he doesn't ever strike first?"

"No." Coal made a small smile as she looked at Hayate. She looked back to Den's leg and sighed.

"So, what happens if you break your leg? Do you have anyone to replace it?"

"If he breaks his leg he will have to do without a leg," Hayate said without bothering to look back.

"Are you kidding? He can't go with only three legs!"

"He's done it before."

"That's just being ignorant!"

"He's right, Coal," Den said quietly. "There is no way for me to fix this, my master is asleep and her grandmother might be asleep as well." Coal looked over at Den who smiled kindly. "I know well enough to walk on three legs and if something happens then Hayate will up his strength."

"He would do that?"

"Of course, he tries to make up for whatever weak points or lacking there would be in a group. If you lose an eye, he tries to be your eye, if you lose your teeth; he tries to be your teeth as well as his."

"I didn't think he did all that…"

"Well he is a lot more caring than he leads others to believe."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Though with his calm temperament, I do wonder how long it'll be before he gets annoyed of us talking about him behind his back."

"Oh yeah, he can hear every word we are saying…"

"He does have good hearing. He also has very sharp skills, his senses are stronger than most, it's probably because of his master."

"My master's skills are sharp enough," Hayate stated. "However I trained my skills on my own to match my master's skills. Though, I did receive some help from my master."

"Yeah, and I should be more like my master but I take after Edward Elric," Den stated. He lifted his metal paw up and grinned. Coal nodded and smiled back at them, she quickened her pace and walked next to Hayate.

"You've chosen to walk next to the jerk?" Hayate asked with a smirk.

"What of it? I feel like walking up here, you can't be in front all the time mister hot shot king."

"Nice comeback…"

"How long are you going to let Al follow us without saying anything?"

"It'll be as long as it has to be. There is a place that I know of that houses a certain alchemist, he is a translator alchemist of sorts."

"Care to elaborate on that?"

"Yes, he lives with his owner and doesn't do much fighting because his alchemy isn't an offensive alchemy. What it does is temporarily allows any language to be translated and understood by others who don't speak that language."

"So what's the purpose of doing this? You want to get Al to understand us?"

"Yes, this way he will also know to stay out of our way. We're trying to find a way to wake Amestris and knowing Al he'd probably want to take us home and expect everyone to wake up on their own accord."

"I understand. How far is it until we get there?"

"We are actually nearing the city right now." Hayate glanced down and saw a cut on Coal's side. "Where did you get that cut?"

"Huh? Oh, that. I didn't get it from anywhere worth mentioning."

"It's worth mentioning, where did you get it?"

"Last night, in Liore…"

_"Liore isn't that far from here, about fifteen minutes."_ Hayate looked straight ahead and made a small grunting sound. "Okay, so what happened?"

"One of the males in Liore, Butch I think was his name, attacked me." Hayate raised his eyebrow and his eyes widened then narrowed.

"You didn't fight back?"

"I did, well I tried, and it doesn't matter!"

"Butch…I think I know him, he's a Great Dane."

"Yeah, he wanted to mount and I didn't want him to. He never did mount though!"

"Yet he attacked you because you didn't want him to?" Hayate asked gruffly.

"Yeah, that's what happened." Hayate stopped walking and Coal raised her eyebrow. "Uh, Hayate, why are we stopping?" Hayate looked back at Den and he perked his head up quickly, he had been watching something on the ground.

"Den, the alchemist you need to look for is an Akita dog by the name of Randal. Al doesn't need to hear all of us so only you need to have the alchemy used on you so Al can understand what you're saying. You can be a translator for us when we need to say anything important to Al, do you understand?"

"Yeah, but why did you stop?" Den asked.

"I'll be back later." Hayate turned and started walking back toward Liore.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Coal exclaimed. "Get back here!"

"I'll be back later, Coal. Den, stay close to her and make sure no other males get around her."

"I don't need your protection!"

"It's Den that is protecting you for now." Hayate broke out in a run and Coal turned around angrily.

"Fine, if he wants to get in trouble over a little cut, then let him."

"I wouldn't say that's a little cut, how long have you been hiding that?" Den asked with a worried look, the cut was more like a gash

"It is fine, quit worrying!" Coal let out a small growl and started walking off. She lowered her head and sighed, this was the reason she didn't tell anyone, someone would wind up going back there and getting mad. She hated when people had to worry about her.

"Den, hello, where is Hayate?" A voice asked. Den and Coal looked over to see an Akita walking toward them. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Randal."

"Hello, long time no see," Den said with a smile. Coal raised her eyebrow and looked at Den.

"Just how much of Amestris have you and Hayate seen?" Coal asked.

"You would be surprised what adventures two bored pets will do when their masters are working or not around."

"Yes, I've met both Den and Hayate before," Randal stated. "I hate insects and these two saved me from this gigantic spider." Den sighed and leaned in toward Coal.

"It was just a tiny little insect, the size of almost nothing," Den whispered. Coal let out a chuckled response and Randal sighed.

"So what brings you here today?" Randal asked.

"We need a favor from you."

"Oh, I'll do anything for my saviors!"

"Right…Well we need you to use your alchemy so I can communicate with the humans."

"Aren't they all asleep right now?" Randal looked amidst the village which was littered with humans lying on the ground. Randal looked over and saw Al trying to sneak his way past the dogs. "Oh, I see, you want to communicate with that big guy. Do you know how long it will be until you want to stop?"

"How long is your longest alchemy?"

"That can go for about ten days."

"That's not very long…but it will have to do! Use it on me, Coal and Hayate do not need to communicate with Al and I'll be the translator."

"Okay, you may feel a slight sting. The big armor guy probably won't feel anything."

"That's fine." Coal stepped out of the way as Randal clasped his paws together. Den groaned as the alchemy surged through him.

"Is he alright?" Coal asked with wide eyes.

"Don't worry madam, he'll be fine. The alchemy just stings a little as it surges through the body." Coal nodded and looked over at Al, he was running toward them, possibly wanting to protect Den.

"Al, stay back!" Den exclaimed. Al stopped running and would have had a look of confusion on his face.

"Den, did you just talk?" Al asked. Den clenched his teeth as the final bit of alchemy finished its work. Den grinned and looked over at Al.

"Yes, I just talked to you; you may want sit down now." Al sat down quickly and sighed.

"First brother is talking and then collapses on the ground with everyone else and now Winry's dog is talking to me…Am I going insane?" Den rolled his eyes and sighed.

"No, it appears there are dog homunculi that have put every human in Amestris asleep. Hayate, Coal and I are looking for this light that we saw when the humans fell to sleep, we intend to wake everyone up. Hayate may intend to destroy the philosopher's stone as well."

"If you destroy the philosopher's stone…"

"We know. You and your brother probably won't get your bodies back. You know how the stone is created right? Hayate knows more than I do about it but it seems that the stone is created by numerous human sacrifices. The dogs intend to destroy the entire Amestris humans and use them as ingredients to the stone. I think Hayate plans to destroy all records of the stone ever existing." Den looked over and saw Randal inch toward Coal; she was stepping away from him. Den sighed and turned around, "Randal, keep away from her. She does not want anyone to touch her while she's in heat."

"I'm sorry," Randal said quietly. "It's just difficult; you know how dogs are with their urges."

"Yes, that's true."

"You're neutered, aren't you? She's not affecting you in any way."

"That's correct; Hayate is maintaining good stability and control around her."

"Uh, Den, could you explain who that female dog is?" Al asked as he rubbed the back of his head. He wasn't too sure what to make of talking to a dog.

"Yeah, Coal is the flame human's new pet."

"Who is the flame human? Oh, you mean Colonel Mustang!"

"Yes."

"So, can I talk to her?"

"Only I got hit by the alchemy, I'll translate when Coal and Hayate want to talk to you."

"Dogs can use alchemy?"

"Animals and humans all can use alchemy. Not ever animal can, it's just like humans, there are some that can and some that can't. Coal can use flame alchemy, Hayate doesn't use any alchemy and I also can use alchemy." Den transmuted his paw into a blade and Al's eyes widened.

"That's just like brother's alchemy!"

"Yeah, it is." Den looked over and saw a butterfly floating about. "A butterfly, I have to play!" Den rushed over to chase the butterfly and Coal let out a sigh.

"Den, now is not the time to play!" Coal exclaimed. Den stopped once the butterfly flew out of reach, he sighed and walked back to Al and Coal.

"Sorry about that, at least I'm not as bad with my weakness as Hayate is with his. Apparently his weakness would be women; he can't fight a woman that well, especially if she's attractive."

"So, where is Hayate right now?" Al asked. Coal's eyes widened and she ran off.

"Come on, we need to get back to Liore!" Coal shouted. "I hate when people worry about me, it's stupid!" Den sighed and looked over at Al.

"Do you think you can keep up with us?" Den asked. "We need to go back to Liore because Hayate ran over there to talk to someone who hurt Coal."

"Yeah, I think I can keep up with you."

"Good, then let's go." Al stood up and watched as Den ran off, he soon joined in the pursuit.

"Hey, slow down!" Al exclaimed.

"You said you could keep up!"

* * *

There you go, let me know what you think. This is getting a lot of hits, but not many reviews, come on people. I can't update or improve if no one reviews. I should thank moofy-fan for taking the time to review. 


	7. The First Battle

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 7 (The first battle)

"Okay Butch, where are you at, bastard?" Hayate asked out loud. "I really don't like being back in Liore right now, they need to have Rose spayed…"

"Hey!" Hayate looked over to see Rose running toward him with tears in her eyes.

"What happened to you, Rose?"

"I was mounted…"

"I thought that's what you wanted."

"Well, yeah but…Not by a large group of males!"

"Care to explain that last part?"

"The town's gang leader had his gang attack me!"

"Butch, that bastard…" Hayate let out a growl. "Rose, stay away from here."

"What do you intend to do?"

"That bastard attacked Coal last night because she refused to let him mount her. I'm not sure if that gash I saw on her is all of her wounds or not either…I met Butch the first time I came to Liore, he's not exactly a good person. Coal will be the last woman he mistreats if I have anything to say about it."

"Hayate…Can I ask you a question?"

"Make it fast."

"How do you feel about Coal?" Hayate looked over at Rose and grumbled slightly.

"That's not a question that I'm going to answer right now. I need to find that bastard that hurt my friend." Hayate ran off in search of Butch. Rose smiled and turned around.

"That's fine by me; it looks like I may lose out."

Hayate barged into a building and looked around, a Great Dane stepped into the room and snarled when he spotted Hayate. "Hey, remember me, Butch?"

"Hey there, pup, how's it going?" Butch asked with a smirk.

"I am no pup. I don't and have never gone by that name either."

"Hey, you were the last time I saw you? How are you doing old buddy?"

"Shut the hell up, Butch."

"Tell me, are you still a stray pup or did you find an owner?" Butch grinned as he saw a gleam from Hayate's neck. "I'm guessing you have an owner. How does it feel being a lame brained house pet?"

"Again, shut up Butch. Your days of mistreating women will end here!"

"Are you kidding me? Aw, I guess I should have suspected as such, you've always had a soft spot for women. I guess this is your downfall. So who's your woman, or are you without one?"

"Don't talk to me as if I'm your friend." Hayate and Butch were walking around in circles, each baring their fangs at each other. "I never was your friend."

"That hurts, I suppose that's to be expected from a goody little pup like you."

"You quit calling me pup!"

"So what woman are you defending? Are you defending that lame female, what's her name, Rose?"

"Not entirely, but yeah, you'll pay for that one as well."

"If you're not here about Rose then who are you here about?"

"My group's female, Coal."

"Your female? So you do have a female."

"I didn't say that! I said my _'group's' _female!"

"Heh, so is Coal that cute little female that I met up with last night? She was that dark coated Shiba Inu, just like you, right?"

"_You_ have no right to call her cute or refer to her in any related manner!"

"That's what I say; you have a soft spot for any pretty thing that walks through the door. Just like that female from long ago. She was a Shiba Inu just like you, wasn't she?" Butch's eyes widened briefly and he chuckled. "Oh yeah…Now I remember her. I should have known, Hayate you old dog."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hayate asked as he raised his eyebrow. "Whatever, that's not important."

"Are we just going to circle around, or are we going to fight?"

"Right, I'm going to fight you while surrounded by your gang, I know how you work!" Butch chuckled and stood up straight. Three other dogs stepped out of their hiding places in the room. One was a Siberian husky, another was a boxer and the third was a bulldog.

"I'm sure you remember Gin, oh and the other two are Thrasher and Inu."

"Aw, it's the little pup," the Husky said with a grin.

"Hello, Gin, and my name is Hayate," Hayate said with a low growl.

"You two know each other?" The boxer named Inu asked.

"Yeah, we go a_long_ way back."

"Yeah, we go pretty far," Butch said with a chuckle. "I've wondered how he was doing since he helped that female Shiba get over to that damn kennel."

"Heh, I wasn't about to let her become your female," Hayate said with a smirk. "You don't know how to treat a woman, there's no way in hell I could allow you to make her your slave of sorts."

"So, have you been with her all this time?" Hayate thought for a moment and then chuckled.

"Hell no, I don't remember what happened to her after I took her over to that kennel. She's probably still over there." Butch chuckled and cracked his neck.

"Perhaps you should pay her a visit, I'm sure she'd love to meet her rescuer. Of course, I'm saddened by this past. It's a shame old buddy; you left Liore with that female and went to pursue your pathetic dream of finding an owner."

"It wasn't a pathetic dream at all."

"I bet you can't even fight anymore, house pet."

"Hah." Hayate leapt toward Butch and wrapped his teeth tightly against Butch's neck.

"Damn! Get off of me you punk!"

"We'll help you out boss!" Thrasher exclaimed. Hayate looked over and felt himself tackled by Gin, Thrasher and Inu, they sunk their teeth into him causing him to leap off and shake the dogs away.

"Damn it…"

"Come on Hayate, you don't want to fight me," Butch stated.

"Sure I do, one on one, _old buddy._" Hayate and Butch started to leap toward each other when they heard a crash.

"What the hell!" Both Butch and Hayate leapt back and saw a section of the roof collapse on Gin, Inu, and Thrasher. "Crap!"

"I think that's the least of our worries," Hayate said with a low growl. They looked up and say a greyhound standing at the top of the roof.

"Hey, I'm Envy, it's nice to meet you," the greyhound said with a chuckle. "Dante told me that I should do you in, but who's this ugly person?"

"Are you referring to _me_ as ugly?!" Butch exclaimed. Hayate chuckled and looked at Butch.

"Well, when you have as many scars on you and chipped ears, you make one _ugly_ looking Great Dane. Looks like I had the right idea, since I still have good looks. You and your gang don't seem to be doing as well as one would have thought."

"Oh, shut up! Who is this bastard anyway?"

"Envy, he must be one of the dog homunculi."

"What exactly are homunculi?"

"They are the cause for all of the humans going to sleep."

"I see…So what do they want?"

"To create the philosopher's stone and wipe out the humans of Amestris I believe. Okay Butch, for now let's put aside our differences and battle this freak."

"Heh, like old times, right?" Hayate scowled as Envy jumped to the ground.

"Oh, it looks like these three dogs are dead now," Envy said with a chuckle. "I hope you're ready to join them."

"What, they're dead? They can't be!"

"Well Butch, it looks like you're going to see first hand what the results of living a gang's life are," Hayate said quietly. "You should have realized it would end like this long ago. Now if I remember hearing my master's boss reading one of his subordinate's reports, the homunculi each have different powers. I think Envy was the one that could transform."

"You better hope he doesn't transform into a female."

"I _can_ fight a female. It's just difficult for me to do that."

"Let's see you fight this female then," Envy said with a smirk. Envy transformed into Coal and Hayate froze in attack stance. Butch looked over at Hayate and growled.

"You can fight this can't you?" Butch asked.

"It's useless," Envy said quietly as he walked over to Hayate. "It's funny how the mind works. It's so difficult to fight someone you care about even when you know it's not the real person. It probably has something to do with the pain of seeing that person bleeding or something, I wouldn't know."

"Damn you!" Butch leapt toward Envy and sunk his teeth into Envy's neck. Hayate's eyes widened as Butch ripped the flesh from Envy.

"Butch, hold on!" Hayate exclaimed. Butch landed on the ground and looked over at Hayate.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't you get it?" Envy asked with a chuckle. "He doesn't like seeing a female hurt but it seems he can't stand seeing this female hurt. Of course, I don't like having one less death."

"If I remember correctly, homunculi have a certain amount of lives," Hayate said quietly. Butch chuckled and looked at Envy.

"Then this homunculus has made the fatal mistake of taking on two of Liore's toughest dogs," Butch stated.

"As long as I'm in this form, he is incapacitated," Envy said with a sigh. "He will not fight the form of the dog he's trying to protect."

"Then I will and I don't give a damn what he thinks!" Butch started to leap toward Envy but stopped when Envy transformed into Gin.

"It appears you can't fight one of your gang buddies."

"I can fight that person!" Hayate shouted with new rage flowing through him. Hayate leapt onto Envy and started tearing at Envy's throat and chest.

"I don't give a damn about any of them," Butch said with a chuckle. He leapt onto Envy and started tearing away at Envy's flesh. Both dogs leapt off and glared at Envy's mutilated body. Envy regenerated his body and stood up straight.

"Damn, that took a few lives off of me," Envy said quietly. "Now it's my turn to attack!" Envy charged toward Hayate and Butch, he slashed his claws toward them but the two dogs dodged and bit their teeth into Envy's neck. "Damn you!" Envy slashed Butch across the face and leapt backwards and thrust a spiked paw toward Hayate. He ducked out of the way but got grazed in the back.

"No, Hayate!" A voice shouted. Hayate and Butch looked over to see Coal, Den and Al standing in the doorway, Hayate growled and turned around.

"Coal, get out of here, now!" Hayate shouted.

"Hell no, I'm going to fight!"

"Heh, go ahead and be my guest. Just don't get too injured, we don't have any healing alchemists in our group."

"Actually that cat that's inside Al's armor right now is a healing alchemist," Den said flatly.

"You knew I had a cat in here!" Al said quickly.

"It's really hard to miss the mewing that animal makes. Put that with the immense fact that you love cats and it's easy to figure out that you have a cat in your armor. Since you can hear everything I say, I had Coal talk to the cat, remember her barking at you earlier? We learned the cat is an alchemist that knows how to heal wounds."

"Oh…Okay then."

"Anyway, stay here while Coal and I help Hayate out." Den transmuted a blade and rushed toward Envy.

"Damn it," Envy said as he leapt back. He looked over and saw Coal snap her nails and send a burst of flame into him. "Crap!" Envy felt Den's blade shove into his chest and rip out. Envy growled and looked around, he was surrounded by Envy felt Den's blade shove into his chest and rip out. Envy growled and looked around, he was surrounded by the fighters.

"Remember, whatever form you choose, I can attack," Butch said with a chuckle. "There is no form you can use…" Envy chuckled and turned into a very familiar face that caused Butch to freeze. Hayate growled and looked at Butch then Envy.

"He transformed into Butch's sister," Hayate said quietly. "She was the only one that he ever had and she died several years ago…Cheap move."

"How did I know about this form, you ask?" Envy stated with a chuckle. "I do my research, I saw Hayate walk in here and I learned a little about your past before facing you." Envy closed his eyes and smirked while turning toward Hayate. "You can't hit me either, you can't hit a woman."

"I can!" Coal shouted as she sent a burst of flame toward Envy.

"Crap!" Envy jumped out of the way and narrowly avoided another burst of flame. He felt a sharp blade rush through his back. "Damn!" Envy broke his transformation and growled. "That's it, you're dead! I'll kill you!" Envy charged toward Hayate and thrust a spiked paw toward him. Butch quickly jumped in front and gasped as the spike went through his chest.

"Butch, what the hell are you doing!" Hayate exclaimed. Butch coughed up some blood and smirked.

"I'm sorry old buddy; it looks like you were right. This is how the gang's life goes, kudos to you making the right move and helping that female to the kennel and finding an owner." Butch looked over at Coal sadly, "In the end I am truly sorry that I've hurt that female a second time. I should have learned the first time that you'd come to her aid a second time."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hayate asked. Butch coughed up more blood and fell to the ground. "Damn it…"

"One mutt down, three more to kill," Envy said with a low cackle.

"Damn you, Envy!" Hayate shouted as he clasped his jaws around Envy's throat and ripped Envy's flesh off. Hayate leapt away and grabbed a large piece of wooden debris, it was in the form of a spike. Hayate swiftly tossed the spike and hit Envy in the chest. "Yeah, it hit the mark!"

"My…stone," Envy said as he gasped. "You hit my stone!" Envy started to cough up blood, he groaned as he stumbled to the side.

"Coal, finish him off now!" Coal nodded and rapidly snapped her nails together. Envy gasped as he found himself surrounded by numerous fireballs.

"Crap!" Coal snapped her nails one final time and all the fireballs collided with Envy, when the smoke cleared there was nothing left but a large red puddle. Hayate started to pant and collapsed to the ground, Coal and Den ran over to Hayate.

"Are you alright?" Coal asked.

"Heh, are you that concerned?" Hayate asked with a smirk. "Get that cat out of Al's armor." Den nodded and walked over to Al.

"Okay Al, let Cotton out of your armor," Den ordered. Al couldn't believe his eyes, he was seeing Hayate bloody from a fight and Den was fighting as well. "Al, let the cat out, _now_."

"Right, I'm sorry!" Al said quickly as he took off his helmet. A white cat jumped out of the armor and groaned.

"Finally, it's so damn hot in there!" Cotton exclaimed. "So what do you dogs want? You're lucky I'm one of the few cats that can stand dogs."

"I don't know where Hayate got most of his wounds," Den said quietly. "They're probably from Butch and his gang. Can you heal him?"

"He's not dead is he?" Cotton asked. "I can't heal a dead dog. I can only heal certain things."

"Do his wounds look healable?" Cotton hopped over to Hayate and looked over his wounds.

"Yes, I can heal these, but for a price!"

"Cotton…" Coal growled and Cotton shrank back.

"Sorry! Don't mind this scared cat; I'll heal him for free! I just want to stay with you guys, so I'll just stay in the big guy's armor as I join with you guys."

"Why, I thought it was too hot in there for you?" Coal asked.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a _brave _fighter. Of all the cats in Amestris, I'm probably the weakest and most easily frightened."

"Okay, just shut up and heal Hayate." Cotton nodded and placed her paws on Hayate, a bright light flashed and Hayate's wounds healed up. Coal smiled as Hayate stood up; Cotton flew off of Hayate and gripped her claws into Den's back.

"Don't scare me like that!" Cotton shouted. Den narrowed his eyes and sighed as he was annoyed by Cotton clawing into his back.

"Sorry about that, kitten," Hayate said with a chuckle. Den groaned and shook the cat off of him, Cotton then jumped into Al's armor.

"You're mean! I just healed you too!"

"You're okay now, Hayate?" Coal asked.

"Yeah, I'm just fine." Hayate looked to Butch's body and his face hardened. "We should bury Butch and his gang. They probably don't deserve it, but it's the least we can do. After this, we should continue our journey and find the source of that light and wake Amestris." Hayate looked over to Al and barked.

"What did he just say?" Al asked.

"He asked for you to help dig a few holes so we can bury Butch," Den responded. "He says it will be faster if you help."

"Okay, I'll get started on digging a few holes."

* * *

There's the chapter, hope you liked it. Leave a note and let me know what you think. 


	8. Coal's Memory

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 8 (Coal's Memory)

"So he's finally found an owner?" Cotton asked as she lay on Coal's back.

"Yeah, you know for a cat who's scared of its own shadow…you're very friendly with dogs," Coal said quietly. "You should be afraid of dogs."

"No, I couldn't be afraid of Black Hayate and you guys that are with him. I owe my life to him!"

"Really, that's interesting." Coal raised her eyebrow and looked at Hayate who was talking with Den. Al was walking next to Coal and Cotton, he was probably wondering what they were talking about. _"Al will get used to it eventually."_

"You know, Hayate was a street dog long before this. Were you a street dog?"

"No, I had one owner a long time ago who died and left me out in the rain. I used to have a home in Liore until the day my owner died, it was then that I was attacked by someone and another dog helped me out. Ever since then I had been in a kennel and after time my kennelmates started treating me badly. I finally escaped and then I found a new owner who would take care of me, that's how I met Hayate!"

"So Hayate's owner knows your owner, is that the case?"

"Yes."

"Do you ever wonder what happened to the dog that helped you out all those years ago?"

"I'll admit that sometimes I wonder about that dog, there's really no sense in doing so because I'll never really see that dog again."

"Yeah, you're probably right, it sucks not knowing the person that helped you out."

"It really doesn't matter, but I was a little pup then, frightened of even my own shadow. Now I'm not frightened of anything else and I have that dog to thank." Coal then went on to explain what happened several years ago.

-_Flashback-_

Coal whimpered beside her master's bedside, she wanted to leap up and lick her owners face but was afraid of setting him on fire because of the transmutation circles that she had on her paws. She lay on a rug and jumped when she heard her owner coughing, her eyes widened when she saw blood drop from her owner's mouth and onto the ground. Her owner stood up and clasped his chest, "I don't have much longer to live, girl... This disease is gripping my life, be lucky you don't have to deal with this human illness."

"You'll be okay!" Coal barked out. All too soon after she barked, her owner coughed up more blood and fell to the ground. "No!"

"I'm sorry I have to leave you like this. You must go and find someone that will care for you. Try to stay away from those three mutts that roam the streets. Or at least the two bad ones…" Coal walked over to lick her master's face but jumped back when he coughed up more blood, his face paled and his eyes lost their color. It was then that Coal realized her master was dead. She whimpered as she stepped outside the house, she would have to find a new owner or at least make it to a kennel, but the only nearby kennel was all the way in Central. Coal looked up and felt the rain fall onto her body, she howled into the sky and stopped when she heard a voice.

"Aw, but pup, it's great living on this side!" A voice said from a nearby alley. Coal peered around and saw three dogs talking, a Great Dane, a Husky and a Shiba Inu sat in the alley.

"I don't care!" The Inu shouted.

"Come on pup, you're like a brother to us, who raised you when you were abandoned on the streets?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Hah, that's another thing, you were abandoned and you're always talking about running off to be a _house pet_! Humans suck, so why do you even want to go and let one of them adopt you? I guess that's what we should expect from a puppy like you."

"Humans aren't all bad, Butch. It wasn't that my prior human abandoned me, he forgot about me! He had all these puppies and I fell out of the basket, he didn't even know!"

"Yeah, and Gin and I took care of you for the past couple of months since then," Butch said sadly. "You're too softhearted, pup. You won't scavenge, you don't do anything with the females, it's like you have a moral soul or something stupid like that."

"You're only upset because you were neglected, abused and tossed out by your owner."

"Again, you see why human's suck!"

"You stop that!" Coal shouted as she stepped into view. Butch, Gin and the dog looked over at her.

"I don't know who you are, but you need to get out of here!" The pup said quickly. Butch and Gin chuckled as they walked over to Coal.

"Look, it's a female, very young and petite," Butch said with a smirk.

"Yeah boss, she's perfect," Gin stated.

"You're right, perfect for my personal female." The pup's eyes widened and he let out a low growl. Butch pressed his paw down on Coal's back and knocked her to the ground. "You're coming with me, girl."

"Leave me alone!" Coal shouted. The pup saw her body shake with fear, and he knew she would be too afraid to do anything.

"Let her go!" The pup shouted. Butch raised his eyebrow and looked over as the dog shoved Butch away and grabbed Coal up. "Come on!" Coal nodded and ran with the pup.

"Where are we going?"

"Do you have a home?"

"No. My owner died, I need to get to a kennel…"

"You expect to get to a kennel with all that fear you have?"

"What was that?"

"I'm sorry if I offend you, but you're too afraid to get anywhere." The pup looked back to see Butch and Gin chasing after them.

"They're still back there!" Coal shouted. "Oh!"

"Snap out of it!" The dog looked down and saw Coal's transmutation circles on her paws. "Listen, the way you're going right now, it's no way to live."

"I think I know how to live my life, thank you very much!"

"When you are no longer afraid, that is when you will truly know how to live." Coal looked at the dog with wide eyes, it was as though he was telling her that she couldn't live if she was afraid.

"I'll show you who can't live their life because of fear!" The rain had stopped before and Coal stopped running, the dog stopped slightly ahead and looked back.

"What are you doing!"

"I'm proving to you that I know how to live my life without fear!" Butch and Gin stopped running when they saw Coal glaring ferociously at them, they noticed the circles on Coal's paws and their eyes widened when she snapped her nails. Soon they were hit by a burst of flame and sent running. "You see, I'm not afraid of anything!" The pup smiled at Coal and shook his head.

"That's good then, I'll take you to the kennel in Central." Coal nodded as she and the dog ran off. It was a few hours before they arrived in the streets of Central and the two dogs had learned quite a bit about each other. "You did well. You know, when you stop and stare your fear in the face, that's when you gain strength, courage, and confidence."

"You seem pretty wise for a puppy."

"I suppose you could say that…Anyway, the kennel is right down the street, I wish you luck in finding a good home."

"What about you, aren't you going there as well?"

"No."

"Then what will you do?"

"I'll find an owner on my own, without bothering with a kennel. That's too luxurious and easy and after my dealings with Butch and Gin, I can't deserve the easy way out."

"Don't say that, it wasn't like you did anything bad when you were with them."

"Yeah, but I was still part of their team. If I deserve luxury then I'll get it, but until then I will find an owner the hard way. You deserve peace and luxury, good luck."

"Thanks…I hope you find a great owner yourself, good luck." Coal kissed the pup's cheek and smiled as she ran off. The pup blushed and shook his head before leaving.

-_End Flashback-_

"It sounds like that pup had an impact on you," Cotton said quietly.

"Yeah, he did, I never thought I'd be seeing Butch again though. It was kind of nostalgic for me because when I saw Butch, I didn't see the pup with him. I sometimes wish I could find out if that pup ever found a good home or if he's still wandering the streets…Did he survive? Did he find a home? He was young like me so did he ever get what he wanted with his life? Sometimes it's sad to think about the likely chance that he didn't survive, when I met him he didn't seem like the type of dog that would be very good on the streets. He didn't seem all that tough, brave he was but sometimes he seemed to jump in at the worst times, as much as I would hate to admit it, I don't think he survived." Hayate glanced at Coal through the corner of his eyes and looked forward once more.

"So, you're fine with Cotton helping us out?" Den asked.

"Yeah, of course, she seems like she'd be fine helping us out. If she can heal wounds then she's good. She wants to stay with us, probably because I helped her from drowning in that lake a few years back," Hayate stated. "Although that lake was more like a puddle." Den chuckled and walked over to Al.

"How are you doing, big guy?" Den asked with a grin.

"I'm still a bit freaked out actually," Al responded. Den, Cotton and Coal all chuckled. Coal looked over at Hayate and smiled before bouncing Cotton lightly.

"Yikes, don't do that!" Cotton shouted as she jumped off of Coal's back and onto Al's armor.

"Sorry about that, Cotton, but do you think you could stay with Den and Al?"

"Yeah, sure, just let me know if there's any danger!"

"Why, will you fight with us?"

"Of course not, I'll be the first to leap inside my large armored protector!"

"You're real funny, Cotton." Coal shook her head and walked next to Hayate. "Hayate, you never speak much about your past, do you?"

"There's not much to say," Hayate stated. Coal looked at Hayate, his face was hardened with a determined look and he didn't bother looking any direction other than forward.

"You could at least look at me when you talk you know!"

"I know, but I choose to look in the direction I'm walking." Hayate gave a small chuckle and Coal shook her head.

"I don't know exactly what your past is, but it seems like you've done a lot for others."

"I'll let you know, I did live on the streets at one point of time in my life. So I helped a few people, like Cotton, out of tough situations."

"Yeah, I bet you did, you seem like the type of person that would help others."

"Well, I've never really been a bad type of dog."

"I bet you haven't, but I'm sure you've done some bad things in your life."

"Probably, but there's nothing I'm planning on telling you."

"Why did Butch seem so friendly with you earlier?" Hayate glanced at Coal through the corner of his eyes and shrugged.

"I don't know, why do you think he seemed friendly with me?"

"Perhaps he knew you before. Do you think he would have known you?"

"Do you?"

"I think he may have known you from somewhere." Hayate glanced at Coal's paws and shrugged.

"No, I don't know about all that. If he knows me from somewhere, then he does, but if he didn't know me, then he never knew me. However, I may have met him at some point in the past." Coal chuckled and looked ahead.

"So, what do you think of me now?" Hayate glanced once more at Coal.

"What do you mean? What do I think of you from when I first met you? I probably won't be staring at you with disgust on my face when I see you lying near the flame human's desk anymore." Coal's eyes narrowed as she stared at Hayate.

_"He knows, but he's just not admitting it. He probably knew from the very beginning."_ They stopped walking when they saw to figures step in front of them, they were a bloodhound and a cocker spaniel.

"Long time, no see," Lust said with a grin.

"Can I eat them, Lust?" The bloodhound asked.

"I suppose you can, Gluttony." Cotton screeched as she jumped into Al's armor.

"Who are they?" Al asked. Den looked groaned and looked at Al.

"Lust and I'm guessing this other one is Gluttony," Den said quietly. "We met Lust before."

* * *

There's Chapter 8, hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think. 


	9. Hayate Dies?

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

A/N: This chapter will be very similar to the FMA manga chapters 38-40.

* * *

Chapter 9 (Hayate dies?)

"I hear Envy has been defeated," Lust said quietly.

"Yeah, how would you like to join him?" Coal shouted. Lust chuckled as she looked at everyone who stood in her path.

"Do you seriously think that I'm going to go down like that dumb mutt? I'm not dumb enough to take you all on at once." Lust looked over at Gluttony and smirked, "Whoever I bring down, you can go ahead and eat."

"Can I eat the girl first?" Gluttony asked. "Can I, can I?"

"Sure, go ahead." Gluttony charged toward Coal, Al picked her up and ran off.

"What the hell! Put me down!" Coal shouted. "Let me fight the fat lard!" Hayate started to run after them but was stopped when Lust ran in front of them.

"I don't think so; you'll have to fight me if you want to get to them."

"Damn it, okay, you want a fight, you got one," Hayate stated with a growl.

"That's what I thought." Lust shot one of her nails toward Hayate and Den. They dodged out of the way and bared their fangs.

"I'm pretty sure Coal can handle that piece of lard you sent after the others," Hayate said with a chuckle. "Can you handle us?"

"So what are you, a big shot?" Hayate charged toward Lust only to have her dodge and slash at him with her claws.

"I'll handle her!" Den shouted as he slashed Lust with his blade. He hit Lust in the side and she slashed at Den with her nails. Hayate quickly charged toward Lust and thrust his paw through her chest and hit the stone inside.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to put your hand in a woman's chest?" Lust asked with a smirk. She slashed at Hayate with her nails but hit Den instead.

"Den!" Hayate shouted as Den fell to the ground. "Damn it!" Hayate charged toward Lust but was stabbed in the side by Lust nails. "Crap…"

"Now, there seems to be some others to take care of. Don't worry; I'll make sure they join you soon."

"Damn it!" Hayate looked over at Den as Lust walked off. "Den, wake up! You can't die before me, damn it! Wake up!"

------------------

"Okay, that's it, I told you to put me down already!" Coal shouted. She snapped her nails and Al quickly released her as a burst of flame appeared. "I know you can't understand a word I'm saying, but the next time you grab me like that I will burn you so badly that you're nothing but a pile of melted metal!"

"I have no clue what you're trying to say," Al said quietly.

"It's going to be hard to fight alongside you…"

"Yay, I get to eat!" Gluttony said as he ran toward Coal and Al.

"I think not!" Coal snapped her nails and sent fire toward Gluttony. "Damn bloodhound."

"I wonder if she would like me to fight with her," Al said quietly.

"No, you fighting would be just horrible," Coal said with sarcasm in her voice. Coal charged toward Gluttony and clenched her teeth around his neck; she then lifted Gluttony off the ground and tossed him into the ground. Coal then leapt back in time to avoid being bitten by Gluttony. "Great, Hayate gets the slut and I get the fat lard. This is just perfect…"

"Why do I get the feeling she doesn't like who she's fighting?" Al asked out loud.

"Okay you fatso, let's go!" Coal snapped her fingers and set Gluttony to flames. "I know exactly how to destroy that stone in you, but I can't draw the circle right now…I need to get this metal guy to draw it." Coal looked over at Al and saw Cotton's eyes peering out of the armor. "Hey Cotton, want to do something useful?"

"I'm not fighting if that's what you're asking!" Cotton shouted.

"I need you to draw something!"

"If I can draw it in here…Look out!" Coal quickly leapt back in time to avoid being hit by Gluttony.

"Damn…Cotton get your butt out here and draw a transmutation circle, now!"

"Oh, that's what you want! I'm sorry, I'm too afraid to do it!" Coal's eyes narrowed and she shrugged.

"Fine, I'll just have to kill him the hard way." Coal charged toward Gluttony and took a bite out of his back. "Bleh, I'd much rather fight with my alchemy than my teeth…I'm not too big on tasting blood." Coal sniffed the air and groaned, "Oh man…not now…why does the meat have to be here now?" Coal looked around rapidly. "Where's the meat!" Coal ran to the left and found a big slice of meat on the ground. "How long has it been since I've had a taste of meat? Only one day, but it feels like eternity!" Coal took a bite out of the meat and sighed, "I know Hayate would tell me I'd get plenty of meat from my master when all of this is done, but I can't help myself. I hope Hayate's faring well against Lust…That pup, he always seems so confident, his eyes are always so stern and confident." Coal took another bite out of the meat and became further distracted, until Gluttony came over and ate the meat. "The hell!"

"That was delicious, I'm still hungry," Gluttony said. Coal's eyebrow twitched as she glared at Gluttony.

"You filthy bastard, you ate my food!" Lust quickly slashed her claws into Gluttony and tore his flesh with her teeth. She then leapt over to where Al was standing and snapped her fingers causing massive flames to erupt around Gluttony. "Oh, right, fire leaves burn markings." Lust smirked and snapped her nails together causing fire to erupt from the ground; with the fire she burned a transmutation circle into the ground. "Come on you fat lard, walk into the transmutation circle. It's the smartest idea that you'll ever have, as dumb as you are."

"Is there any food over there?"

"Yes, yes, the circle on the ground is your food! Right there is a nice big cake for you to gobble up!"

"Yay, that's delicious food!" Gluttony ran to the center of the circle and started licking the ground.

"Yes, and you're a pathetic idiot…now die!" Coal placed her paws on the circle and Gluttony looked up as a bright light shone from the ground. When it disappeared, the only thing left was a large red puddle.

"Wow that was great!" Al said quickly. Coal chuckled, she was sweating and panting from the fight, it took quite a bit out of her.

"Not bad, too bad about Gluttony," A voice said. Coal looked over and saw Lust walking toward them. Al looked over and sighed.

_"So this one is Lust,"_ Al thought. Coal lifted her paw up slightly.

"All this bloodshed in one night, I'm telling you, I didn't intend to kill this many people at once. Don't worry dear; I'll let you follow your leader soon."

"You said my leader? I don't…wait; you don't mean…it can't be!"

"Oh my, you didn't know?"

_"Why does something seem vaguely familiar about this scene?" _Al wondered.

"You couldn't have killed him! Die you bitch!" Coal shouted as she snapped her nails in desperation several times and hit Lust with numerous amounts of flames. After a few seconds, Coal stopped snapping, probably out of exhaustion.

"Are you quite finished?" Lust asked as she regenerated her body. "Oh, and yes, Hayate should be dead right about now."

"H-He can't be." Coal slumped to the ground with a groan. She stared at the ground and Lust chuckled.

"You animals are just like humans, you're all weak. You're all nothing but pathetic vermin."

"I can't let the Colonel's dog die here," Al said quietly as he stepped in front of Coal.

"What do you think you're doing armor man, don't you see she doesn't want to live anymore?" Lust asked.

"Come on, Coal, get up and run away! We can find a way to get everyone to wake up, you have to run." Lust shot her nails out and hit Al in the arms. "Hurry, Coal!"

"You idiot, you probably can't understand a word I'm saying but she doesn't want to live."

"Cotton, get Al out of here!" Coal shouted. Cotton peered through the armor and was shaking with fear.

"No, I won't make him leave!" Cotton shouted. "Besides, I don't think he'd follow a cat."

"You should at least live! I'm too damn exhausted to continue…"

"No!"

"What are you saying, this isn't like you!" A voice shouted from behind Lust. Coal's eyes widened and Lust looked back in shock. Swiftly Den charged and shoved his blade through Lust's chest and pierced into her stone while Hayate clenched his mouth around Lust's neck.

"What the hell!" Lust shouted.

"The first thing you should do to gain control in battle is to render your enemy, powerless. Make a note that surprise attacks fit in perfectly, homunculus.

"How is this possible? You should be dead!"

"Your nails barely even cut us…"

"What!"

"Hayate, you're alive!" Coal shouted with confusion. She started to run out when Hayate stopped her.

"Stay back, Coal, don't come any further! Okay Den, destroy her stone!" Den nodded and sent a surge of alchemy into the stone. Lust screamed as she turned her paw around and shot her nail out but stopping just before the nail hit Hayate's face.

"I lose," Lust said quietly. "Damn it." Lust looked into Hayate's eyes and sighed. "As much as I don't like it, it's nice losing to a male such as you. I really do like those determined and confident eyes of yours; I can't wait until they are filled with fear." Lust's body then disintegrated and Hayate fell forward onto the ground.

"Hayate, hold on!" Coal shouted as she ran over to him.

"Oh, Coal it's good to see you safe."

"I'm not the one you should be worrying about!"

"Hayate, Den, are you okay?" Al asked as he walked over to Hayate. Hayate looked over to Den and sighed.

"Please tell Al that I thank him for protecting Coal." Den nodded and looked at Al.

"Hayate says thank you for protecting Coal and we will be just fine," Den said.

"Nonsense, you need a doctor or something!" Al said quickly.

"Ah yes, Cotton, please heal Den," Hayate said with a groan.

"I'll get right on it!" Cotton said quickly as she bounced out of the armor suit. "However it does look like you're in more danger than Den is."

"I don't care, heal the others first."

"Fine, but don't you go dying on me before I get to you! How am I supposed to pay back the debt I owe to the man that saved my life!" Cotton placed her hands on Den and healed his wounds and then leapt over to Hayate and healed his wounds.

"Thank you, Cotton, but you don't owe me anything."

"Sure I do, I owe you my life!" Hayate smirked and looked at Coal.

"Cotton, could you and the others go elsewhere for a minute?"

"Sure."

"Okay Al, we need to move," Den said quietly. Cotton jumped into Al's armor and Al walked off with Den.

"So are we going to leave them by themselves, Den?" Al asked.

"No, they're probably just going to talk about a few things," Den said quietly. "I don't know what, but I think they really need to talk."

"I'm not sure what happened exactly, but Coal seemed a bit upset earlier."

"Lust most likely told her that Hayate was dead." Den's face hardened and he let out a small growl.

"Would that matter?" Al looked over at Coal and Hayate, Den looked back over and sighed as they continued to walk away.

"Those two…Their relation runs deeper than what meets the eye. They won't admit anything to each other though."

"What do you mean?"

"You'd think they just met but the other night, in Liore, Hayate told me he met her before. He said that she was the female that Butch almost took for his own and Hayate helped her escape. I think they're attracted to each other, though…I could be wrong. Hayate doesn't look to happy with Coal right now. Let's move out of the visual distance, they probably won't want us watching them."

* * *

There you go, chapter 9, next should be up soon. 


	10. Of Men and Women

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

A/N: I'm putting 10 up on the same day because I feel like it and to alert those who have read this to re-read chapter 9. I mistakingly put the wrong chapter 9 in there. If you read chapter 9 and it was a different story piece, then read it before reading this chapter, please.

* * *

Chapter 10 (Of Men and Women)

"Well, are you going to get up?" Coal asked with a sigh. "I think you can stand now."

"Coal, what were you doing?" Hayate asked with a groan. "You lost the will to fight only because an enemy told you something and you believed her! You of all people Coal, you are the _last_ person I'd think to act like this!"

"I-I'm…sorry, Hayate. I don't know what the hell came over me."

"Don't ever stop thinking and never give up the will to live! If you're going to fight with us, if you're going to wake the humans in this fight, you have to be more firm and stronger."

"I'm sorry…" Coal looked away, shamefully. He was right; it wasn't like her to act like that. She didn't know what came over her. "I suppose that I'm still fearful, perhaps I don't know how to live my life…" Hayate's face softened and he sighed.

"Forget it, Coal. I'm sorry that I lashed out like that, it wasn't my place to do so." Hayate stood up and looked at Coal.

"No, you're right, as much as I hate admitting that, you were right." Hayate nearly winced at the flat tone in Coal's voice.

"I must say, you definitely became a lot less fearful. I was wondering how long it might take you to figure it out…"

"When did you learn who I was?" Hayate smirked and placed his paw on the circle that was burnt into Coal's skin.

"A female Shiba Inu with transmutation circles engraved in her paws and can control fire. There are not that many of those around."

"So, you pretty much figured it out when I walked into the office."

"Yeah, I think you figured out who I was after some amount of time. How does it feel to know that the dog that helped you actually got a very good master and became stronger?"

"It feels good actually, I mean…I'm glad to know you're still alive and doing well." Hayate chuckled and gave Coal a hug. Coal blushed slightly and groaned.

"Ah, get of me!"

"Heh, fine by me, did you say that your master was planning to propose to my master?"

"Yeah, actually it was going to be that very day."

"Nobody's going to believe Al when he tells this story."

"Den will just have to explain it," Coal said with a shrug. Coal circled around Hayate and looked at him.

"What are you doing, Coal?"

"Checking to make sure Cotton got _all_ of your injuries. We don't need you losing blood before we have another battle."

"I just _love_how worried you're getting about me." His voice was obviously sarcastic. Coal closed her eyes and sighed as she brought up her paw and pushed Hayate to the ground.

"Nobody said I was getting worried about you." Hayate chuckled and stood up.

"That's fine by me, you don't need to be worried about a mutt like me anyway, let's get moving." Hayate started to walk away but Coal stood in place.

"Stop right there." Hayate turned his head and raised his eyebrow.

"What? There isn't anything wrong is there?"

"I was just wondering if…Forget about it." Coal shook her head and started to walk by Hayate. "You know, you really do need to worry more about yourself rather than others. I was fine and so was Den, you and Den should have stayed where you were rather than walking blindly into the fight! I could have defeated Lust!"

"It appeared that you no longer desired to fight." Hayate walked next to Coal and she looked over at Hayate. She was immediately frozen by his sharp gaze. "You didn't seem like you would be able to fight, so I came to help you. I would very much prefer you to live."

"Yeah, it would be bad if my owner found out I was dead."

"To be honest, he's not the only one who would be greatly affected."

"I don't know that many people who would care."

"Well, I know of someone who would." Hayate shrugged and sniffed the air. "Ugh, do you know how difficult that aroma of yours becomes?"

"It's not like I have perfume or anything like human females do! I can't do a thing about how I smell, and that's offensive to a woman!"

"Ah, I suppose I should treat you like a lady."

"Yes you should!"

"Why?"

"What the hell!"

"You are a woman, that is true, but at the same time you are much more skilled than those I have met that claim to be a lady." Coal's eye twitched as she stared at Hayate.

"By your definition, what exactly makes a _lady_?"

"Well, you're no lady, but you are a woman."

"You idiot, is there honestly a difference!"

"Well I would say so." Hayate nodded and Coal was about ready to hit him again. He then opened his eyes and looked into Coal's eyes causing her to relax somewhat. "A lady is a woman who is along the lines of prissy and a bit on the dumb, ditzy side. She's all pompous and self serving, self loving and all that stuff. She's high up on the caste system and looks down on all others and believes that a true lady must prance around in fancy clothes and jewelry. I never could appreciate that in a female, a true female is someone who doesn't care about all those fancy things and believes that she doesn't have to be entirely feminine and dolled up in order to make an impression. She doesn't care what others think about her and lives with a strong heart and never will look down on people. It is this type of female that really makes an impression on me."

"Oh…"

"Tell me, I'm merely curious as to what you think about us men since I've told you my view on women."

"Heh, you really don't want to hear what _I_ think makes a male."

"Why, it's not anything bad is it?" Hayate raised his eyebrow and Coal let out a small chuckle.

"No, it's nothing to heinous."

"Then tell me, what do you feel makes an ideal male?"

"There's a lot of things, it's really hard to comprehend." Hayate smirked and sat down.

"Try me."

"You're that confident and determined, aren't you?" Coal narrowed her eyes then sighed and sat down.

"You should know me by now, when I think something needs to be done; I like to get it done."

"Yeah, finish what you start…So do you want to hear what I think, or not?"

"I'm all ears."

"First off, he has to have a great personality and great strength. I know I am a woman who feels I don't need protection, but like any woman out there, I feel good if there is a male out there who is willing to protect me and lay his life down for me." Hayate nodded his head and Coal smirked. "It's always nice if the male actually listens to what I say for once, you wouldn't believe how many males I've seen that don't even care about what you have to say!"

"Yeah, it's never good for anyone to not listen to a female when they talk."

"I think any male out there who is smart, that's a plus as well."

"These are all physical things, are they not?"

"They are the outer side of what I like and respect in a male. I want a male who will treat me not like any other woman but as someone special, someone who is different than any other."

"Ooh, that's a high expectation for a male." Coal narrowed her eyes and stared at Hayate.

"It's really not that difficult to treat a woman special, is it?"

"Of course not, I think if there is a male who will treat his female like the greatest female on earth as well as treating her like a companion gives off a noble and admirable quality."

"You really nailed that one, Hayate. I admire a male who will treat a woman on the battlefield like another soldier and not try to keep her from doing anything at all. It may be protective, but it's overprotective and it keeps the female from having any use and feeling like a liability."

"You don't feel like a liability, do you?"

"Uh…no, I don't feel like a liability at all."

"Well, that's good then."

"Yeah, and I like a brave male who will…" Coal paused to think for a minute so Hayate finished for her.

"A male that will travel to the ends of the earth in order to protect the female?"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking of! There's also the male that isn't looking for a female only for mounting and running off. I would prefer mate rather than a mount."

"I see." Hayate smiled and stood up. "Allow me to help you find this male for you and perhaps in the process, you will find a suitable mate." Hayate smirked and Coal looked away with a groan and a slight blush.

"There isn't a mate for me, my master doesn't have another dog and I'm sure there's not that many males out there that would be willing to convince someone to move in just to mate with me." Hayate held his smirk and shrugged his shoulders.

"Then perhaps this true mate of yours has an owner that would be willing to move in with your master. Perhaps even, this mate is closer than you think. Shall we continue to Den and the others? They could be getting worried." Coal was thankful Hayate wasn't looking at her because her face was now redder than it had ever been.

_"Damn this guy, making me blush like this…but…Could this be."_ Coal looked over at Hayate and started to walk with him when she found herself drenched with water and grabbed. "What the hell!" Hayate turned and growled.

"No, Coal!" Scar had grabbed Coal and was running off with her. "Damn it! Scar, I was soft on you last time, but this time you've gone too far!" Hayate ran after Scar and Coal, in the distance Den's head jerked up when he heard Hayate bark loudly.

"What's going on, Den?" Al asked as his hand rested on Den's back. Cotton's head popped out of a hole in the armor and groaned.

"What's with the howling?" Cotton asked.

"I think something's wrong," Den said with a low growl. "Hayate sounds like he's in distress and angry at the same time. We need to help him!"

"I can't run as fast as you, Den," Al said quickly. "We should stay together."

"Try to keep up!"

"Wait, Den, he's right!" Cotton said quickly, "We shouldn't split up! What happens if we're all ambushed?"

"Damn…We need to get to Hayate and Coal, but I suspect they can handle themselves." Den started to walk in the direction Hayate and Coal were and looked back to Al. "Come on, we'll walk."

---------------

"Damn you, Scar, let me go!" Coal shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you!"

"It's not me, it's that damn scent you're putting off."

"Oh, well _excuse me_ for being in heat!"

"It smells like you haven't found a mount yet."

"Do you intend to mount me?"

"No, I've found someone who was willing to pay a price so that I wouldn't kill you."

"Oh, and what price was that? How the hell are you carrying me anyway?"

"I'm strong, what do you expect. I'm apparently strong enough to carry you."

"Did you just call me fat? You're a fat bastard!" Coal kicked Scar in the face and caused him to fall to the ground.

"This male intends to mate you, this is your only way to escape me killing you. Do you intend to die rather than be mated?"

"I don't even know the male, what has the male ever done for me! There is no way in hell I'm mating with someone who means nothing to me! What is it with you males and always wanting to mount a female when she's in heat? You're all pathetic bastards!" Coal looked over and saw a king shepherd step into view.

"Greed is the name; it's a pleasure to meet you."

* * *

There's chapter 10 


	11. Greed Attacks

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 11 (Greed Attacks)

"Greed, huh, so I take it you're a greedy little bastard?" Coal asked. She saw an Ouroboros Tattoo on Greed's paw and groaned. "You're a homunculus. Scar you idiot, you brought me to a homunculus of all things! I hate to tell you this, but I have no intention of mating with either of you. Besides, I could have already chosen my mate for all you know!"

"Then who is this mate of yours and why do you still smell as though no male has come near you?" Greed asked with a smirk.

"So I happen to be a little protective in that light. I'm not going to let just any damn male mount me, I'm going to find a male who I know will stand by my side and he will care for me and treat me like another human being."

"Oh, well that's a good expectation, I could do that."

"Like hell you could!" Coal sneered and glared at Greed and Scar.

"Is that any way to treat the one who saved you?"

"You didn't save me at all, so don't give me that crap!"

"I negotiated with Scar for your life."

"I really don't give a damn what you did, that doesn't constituting as saving a life, especially not my life! I could handle scar on my own!" Coal looked down to her paws and groaned, not even she was foolish enough to consider her flame working when she was wet.

"I see you can't do anything with that alchemy of yours."

"Shut up, bastard."

"Really, you don't have much of a choice. Either stick with me or let Scar kill you. It's not like anyone's going to help you right now."

"I can still fight, I learned enough to not rely solely on my alchemy. What do you take me for, a pathetic girl who can't bother to think things out?"

"Actually, that's exactly what I take you for."

"Wrong answer, pal!" A voice shouted. Coal saw Hayate leap over her and tackle Scar to the ground. "I'll deal with you first! You won't be using this arm for murder any longer!" Hayate bit into Scar's leg and ripped it off of him.

"Damn it!" Scar shouted. "I'm not useless on three legs." Scar leapt toward Hayate but had his neck snapped by Greed. Coal and Hayate stared with wide eyes as Scar's lifeless body lay flat on the ground. Greed smirked and walked over to Hayate.

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you mount her!" Hayate shouted as he bit into Greed's neck and tossed him into the ground. "The only one who will be mounting her will be her mate and that means the male that will stay with her and never leave her side. That's speaking figuratively of course! You won't do that for her because you are an evil bastard who only looks for selfish gains. If anybody deserves to mate her it'll be...It isn't going to be you!" Coal smiled as Hayate lifted Greed off the ground and slammed him into a wall. Hayate rushed over to Coal and looked over her.

"What are you doing?" Coal asked.

"I'm checking for wounds, what do you think I'm doing? Now, if you're not wounded then hurry up and dry yourself so you can join me in this battle. I'm not about to keep you from fighting, this is as much your fight as it is mine!" Coal nodded as Hayate turned around, she shook off a blush that started to creep onto her face.

_"What the hell is with the blushing! That and this beating in my chest…I better dry up so I can make myself useful for Hayate."_

"So you intend to fight me, mutt?" Greed asked with a chuckle. "Why fight an opponent you known nothing about?"

"It doesn't matter what I know about you or not," Hayate said with a growl. "I cannot bring myself to let you live!"

"Oh, so you're going to try to kill me?"

"No, I _will_ kill you! However I want answers, what was that light and why are all the humans asleep?"

"I don't know, I would like to know the answer to that myself." Greed chuckled and transformed into a rock hard beast. "I'll tell you who I am though, I am the ultimate shield!"

"More like the ultimate buffoon to me." Hayate charged toward Greed and slashed Greed across the chest. "Damn…not a scratch."

"Yeah, I like to take this form quite often, Dante did leave me without most of my stones, so with this, I don't die so easily."

"You just revealed some information that you shouldn't have!" Hayate charged toward Greed only to have Greed grab Hayate around the neck and toss him into the ground. Greed then tightened his grip in Hayate's neck. "C-Crap! Release me!"

"What, Hayate!" Coal shouted. _"Crap, I'm still too wet to do anything!"_ Coal looked around for something to dry her paws on and saw a large piece of tapestry hanging from a dumpster. _"Gross, but it's the only thing I can use."_ Coal shuddered as she pulled the tapestry out and used it to dry herself. _"Great…Well at least I'm dry."_ Coal glared at Greed, "Let him go!"

"Oh, and what are you going to do, pretty lady?"

"_Never_ call me that again!" Coal snapped her nails together and sent a burst of flame into Greed's back.

"Damn!" Greed let go of Hayate and jumped back. Coal ran over to Hayate as he stood up.

"Are you okay, Hayate?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, my neck is in a little pain though," Hayate said with a groan. "It's good to see you all dried up."

"Yeah, so let's take down this bastard." Hayate nodded and Coal looked at Hayate's neck with a worrisome look.

"Coal, don't worry about my neck," Hayate said as he glanced at her through the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Coal snapped and once more sent a burst of flame onto Greed. Greed chuckled and charged toward Coal, he slashed his claws at her but hit Hayate when he stepped into the path. "Hayate, you idiot!"

"Sorry, I had to take that blow for you." Hayate growled and slashed at Greed once more. "Coal, can you transmute his armor into another material?"

"What do you mean?"

"I believe his armor is made up of the same materials as a human body, you can't create something without there being something to create it from. What I'm saying is transmute his armor into something softer!"

"Shut up," Greed said as he hit Hayate again. Coal's eyes widened as Hayate coughed up blood.

"I'm okay Coal, don't worry." Hayate coughed up some more blood and Coal's eyes widened some more.

"What the hell, quit coughing up blood!" Coal shouted. "Quit that right now!" Coal started to sweat as Greed smirked, Hayate groaned as he stepped toward Greed but stopped only to cough more blood up. "Damn it!"

"I'm fine, Coal, don't worry. Let's kill this bastard, shall we?"

"Y-Yeah, let's do that…" Coal closed her eyes and growled. _"Don't die on me, Hayate, don't leave me in the rain. Where else will I find a pup like you to help me out? Damn it, I'll kill you Greed!"_ Coal charged toward Greed and was hit in the face. She then charged toward Greed and pressed her paw against Greed's arm causing alchemy to surge through Greed's leg.

"That didn't even tickle!" Greed said with a laugh.

"Shut up!" Coal snapped her nails and burned Greed's leg.

"What the hell!"

"I transmuted your armor into something softer. I've figured out your weakness, so fight me." Coal looked over at Hayate and saw him charge for Greed once more. "No, stay back you fool!" Hayate bit into Greed's leg and was thrown off. Greed charged toward Hayate with a smirk on his face. "No!"

"Here is where you die!" Greed shouted as Hayate struggled to pull himself to his feet. He coughed up more blood and collapsed to the ground. Coal's eyes widened and she quickly threw herself in between Greed and Hayate. Hayate's eyes widened as Coal placed her paw on Greed's chest and Greed's claw dug into her.

"Crap, Coal what the hell are you thinking!" Hayate shouted. He watched as Coal fell to the ground. "Damn it Coal, I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around! Damn it!"

"I'm sorry Hayate, but I couldn't stand to see another person…" Coal coughed up blood and Hayate shot up with rage.

"Damn you Greed! You're going to pay for this you fat bastard! Who's going to explain this to the flame human! What the hell am I supposed to do now! I start feeling lonely and oddly enough she enters my life once more and you think you can take her away just that easily! Damn you, I hope you burn in hell!" Greed chuckled and leapt back as Hayate slashed at him with his claws.

"Oh, that's just too damn bad, but why are you trying to fight me in your condition?"

"It's the only thing I can do, there's no way I can allow you to cause anymore damage…I'm going to take you down like the bastard you are and I'll fight to the death if I have to!"

"Would she really want you to do that? She did just sacrifice her life so that you could live."

"Damn it, she's not dead yet, I won't accept that!" Hayate slashed at Greed and knocked him back. He quickly rushed over to Coal and placed his paw on her neck, he sighed when he felt a pulse. "Good, she's still here but I'll need to get her some help and fast. Don't die on me, Coal." Hayate's eyes flashed with rage and anger. _"How long have I wondered about you. I've always wanted to see you again and see how you were, when you entered my life again words could not express how I felt. Damn it, I refuse to lose you. I won't let you die."_ Hayate turned his head away from Coal and coughed up some more blood. _"You will not die first. Damn, you shouldn't be taken down that easily, but he did shove his claws deep into your chest, so it's only natural."_

"Come on, give it up and leave her for the dead."

"There is no way in bloody hell that I'm going to do that." Hayate bared his fangs and took a defensive stance in front of Coal. She was losing blood quickly and needed urgent assistance. "Okay Greed, I think we should finish this!"

"Good idea, how about I finish you off and then I'll kill your lady over there."

"She's not my lady…" Hayate charged toward Greed and felt Greed slash him with his claws. "Damn it…" Greed clenched his fangs around Hayate's neck and tossed Hayate into a wall, he then charged and slashed his claws into Hayate's side. "Ah! Crap!"

"This is painful for you, isn't it? You're slowly losing it all."

_"If I could just hit the spot on his chest that Coal used her alchemy on…Then I can win this thing."_ Hayate growled and bit into Greed's chest. _"Crap, not deep enough!"_

"Damn it that hurts!" Greed grabbed Hayate's back with his teeth and Caused Hayate to spit up some more blood. He then pulled Hayate off of him and threw him into the ground next to Coal.

"Damn…" Hayate looked at Coal and then back at Greed and sighed. "I…I can't possibly lose." Hayate closed his eyes but not before seeing something red flash in between him and Greed. The last thing that Hayate heard before losing consciousness was Greed shouting in pain.

* * *

There's chapter 11 for ya, drop a review if you will. I'd love to hear your thoughts. 


	12. Mates

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

Chapter 12 (Mates)

* * *

"Damn it!" Greed shouted as he felt a long blade thrust through his chest and out his back. He growled as his transformation broke. "You…got me…" Greed fell to the ground and stared up as his body began to deteriorate. "How is it possible?" He stared up at a blond haired man in a red cape. "The Fullmetal Alchemist is awake?"

"I don't know what you're saying or why you look like one of those homunculi," Ed said quietly as he crossed his arms. He glanced over at Hayate and Coal, "But I can't allow you to harm the Lieutenant's dog." Ed kneeled next to Hayate and put his hand to Hayate's throat. "His pulse is still good…" Ed heard a growling noise and looked over to see Coal had awakened and opened her eyes, she was still too weak to stand. "It is okay girl, I think I saw you with the Colonel earlier, perhaps he got a dog." Coal started to whimper and lick Hayate's wounds, "I see how it is…"

"No, Hayate, Coal!" Den shouted as he and Al ran up to them. "Damn it! Cotton, hurry the hell up and heal them, now!"

"I just healed them thirty minutes ago!" Cotton said quickly. "If I heal them both now, they won't be completely healed!"

"I don't give a damn, at least give them some energy so you can heal them completely later!" Ed raised his eyebrow and looked over to see Den barking at Al and a cat. Ed slowly stood up and turned to face Den and Al.

"Al, what's going on here?" Ed asked.

"Oh, brother, you've awakened!" Al said quickly. Den glanced over at Ed and growled slightly. It was not a threatening growl, but a confused and angry one.

"Are the humans waking up?" Den asked. "Are you the only one that has awakened!"

"Whoa, Den, calm down! It's only me, Edward."

"Damn it!" Den looked over at Al. "Tell him what's going on! Cotton, how much longer will it be until you can heal them completely?"

"I can fully heal them now, it will just take longer than normal," Cotton said as she jumped out of the armor. Den began pounding his paw into the ground angrily as he walked over to Hayate.

"You better not die!" Den exclaimed. "You better stay alive!" Ed watched with wide eyes as Cotton placed her paws on Hayate and begun to heal him. After Hayate was healed, she begun working on Coal. She then collapsed with exhaustion. "Thank you, Cotton, you need to rest now. Al, put her back inside." Al nodded and picked up Cotton to place her inside of him. Ed watched with wide eyes and confusion, Den turned and started barking at Ed.

"He says that animals can perform alchemy just like humans can, brother," Al said quietly. "His alchemy is very much like yours."

"Oh, I see, wait…you can understand him!" Ed exclaimed.

"It was a translation alchemist who did it. It will only be temporary. From what I know, there are dog homunculi that have put all humans of Amestris to sleep and since I'm just a soul, I'm not asleep. Coal is the Colonel's new dog and she can perform flame alchemy. As for now, I can only understand Den, so when one of these animals want to say something important to me then Den will translate for me."

"Great…Why am I awake though?"

"That's what I want to know!" Den exclaimed. Ed looked at Den and blinked.

"What did he just say?"

"He said he wanted to know the same thing," Al said quietly. "It's because of me, when you and some other people surrounded us, fell asleep, a crystal appeared on you. I used my alchemy to try to wake you up and eventually I destroyed the crystal."

"Maybe that light that flashed created the crystals!" Den exclaimed as he stood up and wagged his tail. "That means if the source of the light is destroyed then those crystals will probably be destroyed and the humans will awaken!"

"That could be!" Al said quickly.

"I'm lost, what did he just say?" Den groaned and shook his head.

"Den said that the source of the light that put the humans to sleep probably created those crystals. He says that if we destroy the source of that light, the humans will awaken!"

"I see…Do you remember seeing the crystal I had on me break?"

"No. I saw it start cracking though and that was when Hayate, Den and Coal found me."

"Oh." Den looked over to see Coal resting her head on Hayate's back with her eyes closed. Hayate looked over at Al and barked. Den sighed and started to walk away.

"He says for us to leave…again," Den said with a groan. He looked at Hayate and growled. "Nothing better happen while we're away, you do understand that!"

"Yeah, just go away now," Hayate said with a smirk. Den and the others walked away and Hayate looked to Coal. "You can wake up now, Coal." Coal's eyes shot open and she jumped up with a huge blush on her face.

"Uh, what just happened?"

"You were resting."

"Huh…I wonder where my pillow went." Hayate smirked and stood up.

"I don't know, where did it go?" Coal stared at Hayate and he thought he saw a tear fall from her eye. "What's wrong, Coal?" Coal quickly hugged Hayate and sighed.

"I was so afraid," Coal said quietly. "I'm not usually afraid, but when you started coughing up blood like that."

"I understand, it brought up some painful memories, right?" Coal nodded and Hayate rubbed his head against her neck. "It is fine now, Coal."

"I really didn't want you to die, I was afraid of you dying…" Hayate sighed and looked at the surrounding area, he spotted several places where blood had been coughed up. "Is it wrong for me not to want to lose you?"

"It is not and you don't need to worry anymore, we're fine."

"Thanks for your help…but why did you fight like that? You knew you would probably die if you continued to fight in your condition!"

"I had to protect you."

"So what! It would have been horrible if you died!"

"I would be happy with you alive and I intended to fight for your life even if it killed me."

"That's great and all, but I wouldn't want you to die…I would really want…"

"What do you want, Coal?"

"I want all those males to stop coming after me."

"Well, we could try to find you a mate but it probably wouldn't be good unless you knew the person and you knew he was going to stay with you always."

"We don't need to find a mate." Hayate raised his eyebrow and Coal smiled. "I already have a mate in mind and I love him."

"Really, now who is this? I'd like to meet him and see if he's right for you." Hayate smirked and Coal managed to keep her composure and not melt to the ground. "You know, Coal, I've wanted a mate for a long time. I've always felt lonely, even with my master with me." Hayate started to walk off. "There was always this female that my mind would wander to during the times that I felt the loneliest and I would often wonder if I should go to the place I saw her last and ask her to be my mate. I always thought it was impossible to do, but then I saw the female recently and everything changed for me." Coal raised her eyebrow and walked up next to Hayate.

"So, who is this female? I hope it's not that Rose woman." Hayate laughed and coal smiled, she hadn't heard him laugh in a while and it felt good to her ears.

"No, I think Rose is the last female in my mind as a mate. I only have one woman in mind as a mate and I think you know who it is." Hayate turned to gaze into Coal's eyes and caused her to instantly freeze in her tracks. She lifted her eyes to meet his gaze and took a single step forward. "If you're interested, I would like to be your mate."

_"He said it! He actually asked that question."_ Coal cleared her throat and smiled. "I would love that more than anything."

"So then, you will be my mate?"

"Did I stutter, hot shot?"

"Heh, spunky, there's a quality that I love about you."

"You want to know why I love you, it's because you are everything I mentioned earlier."

"Well I'm not everything…"

"Okay, that's true, but still."

"Shall we go meet up with Den and the others?"

"There's one more thing I want to do first…"

"What is that?" Hayate raised his eyebrow and looked at Coal.

"You're my mate now and you've been very good at resisting, I want you to mount me."

"What?"

"I didn't stutter…"

"I don't want to do that right now, that would be taking advantage of the situation or something! I'm not doing it unless you absolutely want to."

"I do want to. I know that you'll always be here for me and you're the one that I want as my mate, there's nothing more that I could want."

"Your master, he would wonder what happened…"

"Al can explain it through Den!"

"That's true, but are you sure?" Coal nodded and took a step forward. "Okay then, I'll do it for you."

"Thank you, Hayate."

--------------------------

"So basically, the humans have fallen prey to a bunch of hounds?" Ed asked.

"That's about right, brother," Al said quickly.

"Well that is almost saddening. How long do you intend to carry that cat with you?" Cotton's head popped out of Al's armor.

"Hey, I'm not just some cat! I'm a very important cat!" Cotton exclaimed. "I'm the one that knows medical alchemy!"

"Uh, Al, what did that cat just say?"

"I don't know, Den is the only one I can hear," Al said quietly.

"That's right!" Cotton said. "So I can abuse you all I want and you won't even know it! I would too, if I wasn't so afraid."

"So Al, you tell me that cat is scared of its own shadow?"

"Yeah, everything except for Hayate, Den and Coal. It appears Hayate saved this cat's life at one point of time. She intends to hang around until she's paid her debt to Black Hayate," Al stated as he crossed his arms. "There's a _big_ past behind Black Hayate I think."

"Really, what did he do in his past?"

"I believe he knew that female dog, Coal, in the past at some point of time. He and Den have been a lot of places in their lifetime as well."

"Really, how is that possible?"

"Den tells me there are several things that dogs will do when they're bored and their masters aren't around." Al, Ed and Cotton all looked over at Den who was seated in the grass with a hard look on his face.

"What's wrong with him?" Ed asked.

"He's probably worried about Hayate and Coal." Den groaned as he walked over to Al.

"The scents in the air are a bit different," Den said quietly. "Usually you can smell Hayate and Coal apart from each other, but it smells like they're together now. I hope Hayate didn't lose control over his impulses."

"Brother, he's saying that Hayate and Coal smell like they're one or something like that…I don't really understand."

"All this means that Hayate's probably mounted Coal."

"Oh…Oh!"

"What is it Al?" Ed asked as he looked over.

"It smells like Hayate has mounted Coal. Maybe he and Coal are mates now."

"That better be the case," Den said with a low growl. They looked over and saw Hayate and Coal walking toward them, Den quickly ran over to Hayate. "What are you doing! You smell of each other, what the hell!"

"Relax Den," Coal responded. "We're mates now, our marriage together will be when our masters are married.

"You two are so sure that your masters will get married?"

"Yes. Also, I will no longer attract other males now that I have a mate."

"I suppose that's a good thing. We'll just have to explain to your owners what happened, I think we should take Randal with us."

"Fine, we'll go back and get Randal and then continue," Hayate stated as he took a step forward. "Having the Fullmetal Human will help us out greatly, we should talk with him first."

"I believe earlier, while you two were talking, he said he found you on pure luck. He was searching for Al when he heard two dogs howling and that's when he saw you fighting Greed. He rushed in and sliced his blade through Greed's chest and defeated him."

"I see. Tell him that he has my thanks."

"I'll do that. It seems that there was a crystal that appeared on him and every other human when they fell to sleep, Al used some of the basic alchemy on Ed's crystal and that woke him up."

"Okay, that explains it. I think the source of that light may be in the outskirts of Amestris, there are no towns left after this."

"Okay, so should I tell Al to let Ed know he should eat and go to the restroom?"

"The last town is Randal's town, we'll stop there for the night and leave in the morning and take Randal with us. If Ed needs to eat and go to the restroom, he can do it there. Actually...He can go to the restroom anywhere."

"Okay."

* * *

There's the next Chapter, hope you've enjoyed it 


	13. Discussions

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_. Okay there are some quotes here and yes it will sound text bookish because if I don't include the author's name it could be considered plagarism. Just try to bear with me

* * *

Chapter 13 (Discussion)

"Why couldn't we just go to Central and wake up the Colonel?" Ed asked to Al the next morning. Al nodded and looked over at Den.

"Hey, Den, my brother wants to know…"

"I heard him," Den said with a sigh. "I don't make the rules."

"When we started out, you made up about one third of all decisions," Hayate stated. Randal walked next to Den and shook his head.

"Isn't Central about an hour from here?" Randal asked.

"We're only three minutes from your town, Randal. Give approximately fifteen minutes to reach Liore and then thirty minutes to reach Central. So if you want to walk forty five minutes to try and wake the flame human and his mate then we should all agree to it."

"Wouldn't it be best to just wake them all up at once?" Coal asked as she looked back.

"I can only understand what Den is saying," Ed said as he narrowed his eyes. "Why couldn't Randal let me understand the other animals?"

"He did the same thing to me, brother," Al said quietly. Den turned to look at Ed.

"They're discussing this as a group decision and debating whether it would be wise to walk forty five minutes to Central and wake up two people rather than continuing to the outskirts of Amestris and awakening everyone."

"We could get to the outskirts a lot quicker if the Colonel and the Lieutenant were awake. They could drive us."

"Here's the problem, they don't know what to expect, they will want to leave us behind for protection and charge into battle without knowledge of their enemies."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Den shook his head in response.

"We expect homunculi with the same abilities as the human ones and as you can see, we fought off a few of them already." Ed crossed his arms and heard Coal begin barking. "She says that because she used her alchemy to transmute the material on Greed, that's why you destroyed him. She asked if you would have known that he was the 'Ultimate Shield' and you needed to make his armor softer."

"Okay, so maybe I just thought he was a regular, but ugly, dog and I wasn't sure what Hayate was doing guarding what looked like a stray." Coal growled and barked once more.

"She says for you to _never_ call her a stray or else she'll fry you to cinders."

"She's just like the Colonel…"

"I say we should stick to our original route, follow that light in the distance and wake Amestris all at once. We can't afford to keep going back and forth between cities and stuff." Ed looked up and saw a bright light in the distance, he shrugged and Den looked toward the light. "Yeah, that's where we are heading."

"Den, tell him that when we reach this destination, I will use the stone we received from Scar last night to destroy the stone and all of it's records," Hayate said quietly. Den nodded, last night they had transmuted Scar's arm and turned it into a philosopher's stone solely for the purpose of using it to destroy all of its records in Amestris.

"Ed, that stone that Al has inside of him, we plan on using it to destroy the stone and all records of its existence." Ed's eyes widened and he looked over at Al.

"If you do that, Al won't get his body back," Ed stated.

"So get Hoenheim to give your bodies back," Randal said simply. "He's the stone himself, isn't he?"

"How do you know this?" Den asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"I've done a lot of research and I've met up with him once."

"Hoenheim…Is the stone?" Den frowned and looked into the sky. "Then perhaps we should find him as well."

"If he uses his power any more then he will perish."

"True and we don't want that to happen…"

"It is not hard to smell his decaying body," Hayate responded. "I could tell his body was decaying from the last time we met. I suspect he doesn't have much longer to live. However, if we use him to give Al and Ed their bodies back, he must do it on his own free will. You must understand, there is no way will force him to use up the last of his power."

"I suppose you're right, Hayate."

"Den, do you remember the taboo you did years ago? That transmutation should have created a homunculus, should it not?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if that homunculus is here or not."

"What are you talking about?" Ed asked. "It's difficult to know what anybody is saying when you can only understand one person."

"You ask a lot of questions. If Hayate, Coal, Randal, or Cotton wants me to tell you something, then I will tell you. None of them have instructed me to tell you anything at this moment. I will tell you however, that we are discussing the homunculus that I created."

"You created a homunculus?"

"Yes, several years ago, and that is why I have this metal leg."

"None of us ever knew this."

"I know that, all of you thought I got hit by a car and merely lost my leg. Of course, none of you ever found the leg."

"Oh…"

"Den, let him know what we discussed about his father," Hayate said grimly. "He should know about his father."

"I'll tell him…" Den sighed and looked at Ed. "Your father-"

"That bastard!" Den rolled his eyes and Ed stopped before going on a rant.

"Yeah, anyway, Hoenheim is the philosopher's stone."

"What!"

"Randal figured it out upon a chance meeting with him once before. Hayate and I suppose the rest of us could smell decay on him when we met him a couple days ago. This means his body is decaying rapidly and if he uses anymore of his power then it will be over for him."

"If that bastard is the philosopher's stone…He can return Al to his original body!"

"Hayate says it must be on Hoenheim's free will and he should not be forced to do anything against his will."

"Brother, dad is the philosopher's stone?" Al asked with slight confusion.

"Yeah, Al, he is the philosopher's stone."

"Do you think we could go for a run?" Coal asked. "I'm really up for a run, I haven't given my legs a good exercise in a few days." Hayate chuckled and looked from Coal and over towards Den, Ed and Al.

"Only if you think the slowpokes can keep up with you," Hayate stated.

"You better not be referring to me as slow!" Den exclaimed. "Besides, Ed can probably keep up, Al on the other hand cannot."

"They're not considering…running, are they?" Al asked in desperation.

"I'm afraid they are."

"Aw man…"

"Well, Coal wants to go for a run. I would say let her go, but Hayate may want to stay with her. To think, just a few days ago, Hayate would have said he wouldn't care if she went off by herself."

"I would not say that!" Hayate exclaimed.

"I hate to admit it, but he's right," Coal said with a chuckle. "Seriously though, I _can_ handle myself just fine and I don't need constant protection like some girls do." Cotton popped out of the armor and glared at Coal.

"That was directed at me, wasn't it!" Cotton exclaimed.

"Yes, Cotton, she was referring to the fact that you constantly shield yourself in Al's armor for protection," Den said with a chuckle. "Oh you are such a brave little cat."

"Shut up! You're mean to me!"

"Heh, why is she here again?" Randal asked.

"I need to repay my debt to Hayate!"

"How many times must I say, you don't have any debt that you owe me," Hayate said dryly.

"For the man that saved my life, I will follow you on this journey until I can be of some use."

"I hate to say it, Cotton, but other than your medical alchemy, a cat that's afraid of everything is not very helpful," Den said quietly. "If you were going to repay any kind of debt to Hayate, I personally don't think you could do it. You're just not brave enough."

"Well excuse me if I don't have courage!"

"Yet you have potential."

"No I don't!"

"As a famous dog, Maya Angelou once said, 'One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.'"

"So…"

"Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. These words were spoken by Margaret Chase Smith." Everybody continued walking in silence as they listened to Den speak his words. "Let us not forget another famous animal that spoke these words: 'If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.'"

"Allow me to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson," Hayate said briskly. "Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them."

"Listen well, Cotton," Coal said quietly. "In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

"Finally something to always remember, all serious daring starts within," Den said quietly. "Courage is inside of you and you have the potential to bring it out. You don't need to live in fear, you can fight if you will yourself to fight, Cotton."

"I'm too afraid though," Cotton whined. "I don't know when the time is right or if there even is!"

"There is always a time for something. Remember this passage from Ecclesiastes, For everything there is a season, And a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to seek, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away; A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate, A time for war, and a time for peace. When will it be your time for these things, Cotton? Will it be now or will you live the rest of your life cowering in fear?" Cotton's mouth feel ajar and everyone remained silent. Ed and Al heard the words spoken by Den and stayed silent as well. Cotton slowly went back inside of Al and nothing more was said, nobody felt a need to speak and add any words, for everything that needed to be said had already been said.

"I think I won't go for a run," Coal whispered.

"Yeah, let's all just think on what it means to be brave and what going to this fight is about. We go to war only so we can bring about peace," Hayate stated. "We should be well prepared, for there is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared for the enemy."

"Words spoken by our first Fuhrer, George Washington," Coal said quietly. "As John F. Kennedy said, it is an unfortunate fact that we can only secure peace by declaring war."

"In the words of John Stuart Mill, War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

"The only way to bring about peace for this country is to fight and kill those who threaten us. The homunculi are evil and they have declared war upon us by putting all the humans to sleep and so in return, we must fight them and destroy them."

"Heh, having a cat like Cotton, brave enough to go out into the battlefield and heal our wounds when needed, that's pretty good." Hayate looked over to where Al was and smiled. _"Don't worry, Cotton, your time will come."_ They stopped walking when they saw a Pharaoh hound step out from the shadows with a wide grin on his face.

"Hello, I am Wrath."

* * *

Okay, the next chapter will definitely make up for this 


	14. Cotton's Struggle

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 14 (Cotton's Struggle)

"Wrath, so you're one of the homunculi," Hayate said with a groan. "What do you want with us? We are mere travelers."

"Why is there a human awake!" Wrath exclaimed. "You are no travelers, you're a threat to Dante's purpose!"

"What's the dog saying?" Ed asked.

"Not right now!" Den shouted with a growl. "I'll translate for you _after_ the battle."

"You're also heading toward the crystal on the mountain," Wrath said quietly. "I must stop you!"

"Where is this mountain?" Coal asked with a smirk. "Could it be the largest mountain on the outskirts of Amestris?"

"It's the one near the Xerxes ruins…It doesn't matter if you know this or not, because I'll kill you now!" Wrath charged toward the animals and slashed his claws into Hayate. Wrath bit into Hayate's neck and tossed him to the ground. Coal jumped back from Wrath and set him on fire, she then charged toward Wrath and clenched her teeth around Wrath's neck. Den charged toward Wrath and shoved his blade into Wrath's chest.

"You made a mistake coming for us on your own!" Den exclaimed. Wrath leapt back and chuckled.

"You think so? I think I can kill you with the greatest of ease!" Wrath charged toward Den and bit into Den's neck and ripped his flesh off.

"Ah! Damn it!" Den cut Wrath with his blade and charged toward Wrath once more. Wrath clenched his teeth around Den's leg and threw him into the ground.

"You're easy to fight!"

"Shut up, there's no way in hell I am easy to take down!" Den slashed at Wrath once more and Coal snapped her nails together causing several flames to hit Wrath. Hayate then charged toward Wrath and clenched his teeth around Wrath's neck and tightened his grip.

"Oh my, it appears that I am dying." Wrath transmuted a blade and caught it in his mouth before shoving it into Hayate's chest.

"Damn it!" Hayate shouted as he took a step back.

"Are you alright!" Den shouted.

"Hayate, you okay over there?" Coal asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me," Hayate responded.

"I will slaughter you and taste of your blood!" Wrath exclaimed as he charged toward Hayate. He was blown back by a burst of flames and saw Coal charging toward him. She bit deeply into Wrath's back and tore his flesh off. "Ah, damn! You're first, woman!"

"I'd like to see you try," Coal said with a smirk.

"You dare mock me!"

"Oh yes, I definitely dare to mock you." Wrath growled and slashed his paw at Coal, she dodged and sent a burst of flame into Wrath.

"The next hit is mine!" Den exclaimed as he charged toward Wrath and slashed him with the blade.

"Crap!" Wrath turned around and stabbed Den in the side.

"That hurt…" Den growled and thrust his blade into Wrath's chest. Wrath did the same with his dagger.

"They're fighting well, do you think we should help?" Ed asked.

"You don't think we'd get in the way of this dogfight, do you?" Al responded.

"Den and Hayate are hurt though…" They watched as Wrath slashed Coal along the side. "Coal is now hurt as well!"

"Maybe we should help them. Why isn't Randal fighting though?"

"I'm not a fighter," Randal said quickly. He knew they wouldn't understand him but he said it anyway. It wasn't that he was scared, he just wasn't a fighter and didn't have high vitality like the others in the group did. He knew if he went out there that he wouldn't stand a chance and would probably die the second he stepped foot on the battlefield, he would only get in the way. "Yeah…That's all I ever do, I only get in the way. I would let them down like Cotton would…"

"Hey, I wouldn't let them down!" Cotton shouted as she peered out of Al's armor. Her eyes widened when she saw the fight. "Yikes! Who is that freak!"

"Die!" Wrath exclaimed as he bit into Den's neck and tossed him to the ground. He then charged for Hayate and slashed at him, Hayate dodged out of the way and bit into Wrath's back and tore the flesh.

"Coal, you don't like the taste of flesh and blood, right?" Hayate asked as Coal was spitting on the ground.

"What tipped you off?" Coal asked.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, stick with your flames, and let me handle the biting."

"Good plan!" Coal snapped her nails together and sent a wave of fire toward Wrath. He dodged and grabbed Coal's neck with his teeth, Hayate froze and growled in anger.

"Don't move or I'll tear her head right off!" Wrath exclaimed. "Don't assume I'm joking either, you should know that I wouldn't joke about such a thing."

"Heh, you must think I'm stupid," Hayate said with a chuckle. "No, I take that back, you must be pretty stupid."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Wrath's eyes glanced toward Coal as she growled menacingly.

"Do _not_ think that you can hold me hostage like some pathetic weakling!" Coal shouted as she snapped her nails together. Along with a burst of flame, she shot her paws up and hit Wrath in the groin causing him to release his hold and scream in pain. Coal leapt back and sent a blast of fire onto Wrath once more.

"Damn you!" Wrath charged toward Coal and slashed her with his claws.

"You okay over there?" Hayate asked as Coal fell to the ground.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Coal stated as she pushed herself up. Hayate charged toward Wrath but was once more stabbed in the chest.

"Crap!" Hayate fell to the ground and groaned.

"Damn, I'll take care of this bastard!" Coal shouted. She rushed toward Wrath and cut him with her nails before leaping back and setting him on fire once more.

"I'll kill you for that!" Wrath exclaimed.

"Again, I'd like to see you try." Coal smirked and Wrath growled with rage. He charged for Coal and bit into her chest. "Damn!" Wrath then slashed his claws against Coal's face and stabbed her in the side with his dagger.

"If it weren't for Cotton, they'd be badly scarred by now," Randal said quietly. "Speaking of wounds, they're taking a great amount of damage from this guy!"

"Den, Coal, Hayate!" Cotton exclaimed. "They're…losing?"

"It looks like that," Randal said as he took a step back. "Perhaps the humans can help, I would but I am just not a fighter. I would not last a second out there because my energy is so low."

"Someone needs to do something!" Cotton said quickly. She gasped as Coal fell to the ground. "No…"

"You know what I'd suggest to you?" Randal asked.

"S-Shut up…"

"Well, you're the one who says you owe a debt to Hayate because he saved your life. If he saved your life then why not pay him back?"

"Hayate's not out yet!" Cotton watched as Hayate struggled to push himself up.

"Cotton, I think your time has come. Show us that you have some valor at least.

"What about the humans, they can fight!"

"Against this animal? Fighting an animal is a little different than fighting a human, they have to aim low and I'm sure that's hard for them. Or at least difficult for the big guy."

"I-I can't fight, old man! Get that through your head!"

"Don't call me old!"

"Well you _are_ old!"

"No I am not old. I'm still young, somewhat…" Cotton's eyes widened as Wrath walked toward them. Ed readied himself for a fight, as well as Al. She glanced over at Hayate and saw him collapse to the ground, Coal was struggling to get up.

"I can't fight…I'm too afraid. Yet, if I don't do something then we'll all die!" Cotton felt sweat dripping down her face. _"They all think I'm a scared little kitten. I'm not scared, I just…Okay maybe I am scared. Hayate needs my help though, they're all losing because they were taken by surprise. If I don't do something then we're all doomed! Doomed I tell you!"_ Cotton felt something shoot up inside of her as she leapt from Al's armor. _"What the hell am I doing!"_

"What are you doing, Cotton!" Al exclaimed.

"I can't let them down!" Cotton shouted. Wrath looked up with confusion and gasped when Cotton landed on his face. Cotton looked at Wrath as he growled. "Heh, hi there."

"Damn you!" Wrath exclaimed.

"Well, bye now!" Cotton leapt off of Wrath and he slammed his paw on her tail.

"I'm hungry, and kitten meat appears to be on the menu today."

"Oh no, I will_not_ become dog food!" Cotton scratched Wrath with her claws and he leapt back in pain.

"Damn you!" Wrath slashed at Cotton but she dodged and cut Wrath in the side.

"I'm guessing they took down some of your lives. Heh, I'm dead…"

"Yes you are!" Wrath bit into Cotton's side.

"Ouch, that hurts! Ouch, ouch! Please put me down, don't kill me!" Wrath chuckled as he tossed Cotton into the air and opened his mouth. "Ah! Hey, I think I'm too big to fit into your mouth!"

"It doesn't matter, I'll tear you piece by piece!" Cotton screamed as she fell toward Wrath's open mouth. She closed her eyes and held out her paws, she opened her eyes when Wrath screamed out in pain. Her claws were positioned on Wrath's mouth and sticking into his nose and jaw.

"Heh…whoops."

"Damn you, I'll kill you for that!" Wrath shook Cotton off of him and charged for her. She yelped and jumped into the air, she landed on Wrath and her claws dug into his back. "Crap!"

"Don't kill me, please!" Cotton began pleading for her life and clawing into Wrath's neck at a rapid pace. "Please don't kill me!"

"Damn you, get off of me!" Wrath jumped into the air and spun over so his back would slam into the ground.

"Yikes!" Cotton quickly jumped out of the way and Wrath shouted in pain as he hit he pavement.

"I will not let a cat make a fool out of me!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to that!"

"Whose side are you on?" Randal asked as sweat ran down the side of his face.

"Damn, that is one cowardly cat," Ed said as he raised his eyebrow. "I think she's doing good and not even trying…" Hayate, Coal and Den all stood up and smirked.

"Not bad," Den said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, she's honestly not even trying to fight him and I think he's losing," Coal said. Hayate chuckled and looked over to Coal.

"How are your wounds?" Hayate asked as he looked at Coal.

"Not bad, I think this homunculus doesn't have very powerful hits. Though it was still risky taking that fall to get Cotton out of her shell."

"Honestly, I didn't think to highly of your idea, Den. Yet, it appears you were right, Cotton will try to fight if it comes down to it. We're lucky to have been attacked by Wrath and not someone else who would have killed us with those blows."

"True, that dagger of his wasn't very long or sharp," Coal said quietly. She walked over to Hayate and looked at his wounds. "Although it did give you quite a few wounds." Coal began licking his wounds, he raised his eyebrow at this gentle gesture.

"I haven't ever seen you do this before?"

"Yeah, well…don't get used to it or anything."

"Please spare my life!" Cotton shouted as she ran from Wrath.

"Damn it, die kitty!" Wrath exclaimed as he charged for Cotton. She jumped out of the way and Wrath ran into a wall. "Damn cat will _not_ make a fool out of me today. Get back here you damn cat, you're supposed to be afraid of your own shadow!"

"When my friends need me, I won't let them down!" Cotton shouted as her look turned fierce. She transmuted a long dagger and gripped it in her mouth. She then charged toward Wrath and shoved the dagger into his chest causing him to spit up blood.

"Crap…you beat me. A cowardly cat beat me, impossible."

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me! Ah!" Cotton closed her eyes but opened them when nothing happened. She watched as Wrath disintegrated. "I…I did it? I did it! I killed a homunculus!" Everyone chuckled as Cotton leapt into the air and did a flip.

"Good job," Hayate said as he walked over to Cotton. Her eyes widened as she looked up to Hayate.

"You will never know how great it feels to be praised by you!" Hayate rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"I'm really no different than a regular animal."

"Yes you are! You're the strongest dog on earth!"

"Whoa, settle down there. I'm not that strong, anyway if you don't mind, I'd like you to heal Coal and Den. I'll be fine."

"I'm healing all of you, so don't get any ideas," Cotton said. "Why the hell are you up though! I thought you all were at least unconscious!"

"I should apologize," Den said as he walked up to Cotton. "It was my idea for us to fake losing so that you would come out and fight. Hayate wasn't too keen on the idea at first but when we found Wrath's attacks were not all that bad…"

"This was your fault!" Cotton shouted. "I got all afraid and nearly_died_ because you wanted to see if I would be brave!"

"I wouldn't say you nearly died…"

"You're lucky that I have to heal you so that you can fight the other homunculi. If not for that, I would let you bleed like the dog you are…"

"You have some guts saying that to a dog, you know that, right?"

"Ah! Don't kill me! I'm sorry!" Everybody laughed in response to Cotton's outburst. She merely sighed and walked over to Den, "I'm just going to go ahead and heal your wounds now so we can go destroy that crystal and wake up the humans…"

* * *

There is the chapter, fearful Cotton is the victor of the battle, hope you enjoyed it! 


	15. A Watery Battle

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 15 (A Watery Battle)

"I think that was a bit cruel, don't you?" Al asked Den.

"What?" Den responded.

"The way you and the others had Cotton fight like that."

"She had to face her fear sometime. We won't be doing that again, Wrath was only weak enough that we felt Cotton could handle him. Plus we decided to wait until we made sure Wrath didn't have many lives left or stand a chance at all. In a way we made it so that even Randal could have fought and killed him."

"Oh…"

"Hey, that was an insult!" Randal shouted. Den looked over at Randal and grinned.

"Was it? I didn't think you could be insulted so easily."

"That was sarcasm!"

"It was? I guess I'm more sarcastic than I thought, either that or you offend way too easily for a gruff old man."

"Hey! Cut that out!"

"I'm sorry, it's just so easy…"

"Hey! I'll fight you, I will!"

"When your only alchemy is translation alchemy? I don't think you'd stand a chance, to be perfectly honest with you."

"Damn you…"

"Den, be nice to the man," Hayate said firmly.

"Aw man, it's just a little fun!"

"Maybe you're having too much fun."

"So, Den, you transmuted your godmother?" Ed asked.

"Yes, long ago. Though it wasn't really that long ago. She's probably the youngest of the homunculi if she is one of them."

"If she is, you'll have to fight her," Hayate stated. "We'll fight her with you."

"No, I think I'll take that fight on my own, she's my sin and I should be the one to bring her down."

"I have one question," Ed said as he crossed his arms. "Where are the human homunculi in all of this? You would think they'd be here." The dogs stopped walking and looked at each other with confusion.

"He has a point there," Coal said quietly. "The human homunculi haven't even bothered attacking us and you'd think they'd know that we are trying to stop them."

"If you remember, Lust did say they killed the human homunculi," Hayate responded.

"So, do you think she was telling the truth?" Den asked. "Are the human homunculi really dead?"

"It's a possibility."

"So, do you think they'll believe us when they wake up?" Al asked.

"Who, the humans?" Den responded as he turned his head to look at Al. "Sure, they might have a difficult time believing you at first. Yet I assume they're going to wake up and find certain people missing, meaning something must have happened while they were asleep. That, and the flame human may notice Coal is pregnant and that will be suspicious enough."

"Okay, well as long as they believe us."

"Randal is here and if we have to, we'll have him use his alchemy once more to make it possible to talk to the humans who need to learn what happened."

"Dante's almost finished making the transmutation circle around the city," A voice said from behind. Everyone turned to see an Afghan hound standing with a smirk on her face. "I'm Sloth by the way and I'm here to destroy you before you ruin Dante's plan. Amestris will be decimated and we'll have the stone all to ourselves, we will become normal dogs."

"Dante is just using you," Hayate said with a growl. "Wouldn't you realize that she doesn't care about you homunculi?"

"I don't know much about that, but I do know that you're in the way. You've killed the others off and so I must kill you. Oh, and so you know, the human homunculi were eaten by Gluttony when Dante put them to sleep. Until Dante finishes the circle, Amestris has literally become our playground. It is misfortunate that you had to kill off the others." Den was frozen in place as he stared at Sloth.

"Y-You're my godmother…"

"Oh, that's right, hello Den. I think I'll kill you first."

"No…This can't be."

"You're immobile, surely seeing me hasn't caused all courage to seep from your veins. I suppose since you're only a Swiss Mountain Dog rather than a Shiba Inu. That makes you not as loyal."

"Oh, I'm just as fiercely loyal as a Shiba Inu. You should read up on my breed, I think you'd be surprised. I know of one thing, you are _not_ my godmother!" Den transmuted his blade and charged toward Sloth. He sliced his blade into Sloth and cut her skin, she quickly leapt back and started hitting Den with water.

"Great, she's a water enemy," Coal said with a growl.

"Yes, so stay back, your flame is now useless against the water!" Hayate said quickly. Coal froze in place as the phrase ran through her ears.

"Fine, but don't expect me to protect you against _your_ weakness!"

"My weakness is dead now."

"Okay fine, but still!"

"Den, let me fight with you!"

"This is my enemy!" Den shouted as he shoved his blade into Sloth's chest.

"You think you're so tough?" Sloth asked as she thrust her watery arm into Den's mouth and down his throat. "I'll drown you!" Den growled and slashed his blade through Sloth's watery leg. "Damn it!"

"It's not going to be that easy!" Den leapt back and pressed the sides of his paws together and sent several spikes up through Sloth's bottom region.

"Damn you!" Sloth begin trying to hit Den with water, Den dodged most of the hits and growled. He charged toward Sloth and bit deeply in her chest.

"All I have to do is kill you a few times and then you're gone for good!"

"Hah, good luck with that!" Sloth hit Den with a water blast and knocked him away.

"Okay Hayate, if you want to help then go ahead!"

"I was going to get in whether you wanted me to or not, you idiot!" Hayate shouted as he charged toward Sloth and bite deeply in her back.

"Ah! Damn you! You're going to regret that!" Sloth shouted as she took a step back. "Hayate, I thought you couldn't fight a woman."

"I got over that back when I killed Lust."

"I see. In that case I will just have to kill you first!" Sloth charged toward Hayate and tried to bite him. Instead, Hayate dodged the attack and bit Sloth's muzzle. She slashed Hayate's chest with her claws and bit into Hayate's shoulder. Hayate snarled and bit into Sloth's neck, Den charged toward them and shoved his blade into Sloth's back. "Crap!" Sloth leapt back and growled.

"For the sake of the humans, we will kill you," Den said quietly.

"Yeah, good luck with that, moron." Sloth hit Den and Hayate with a splash of water. Both dogs charged toward Sloth and bit into her sides, they then continued to run and tear the flesh off of her.

"Oh, I think I'm going to get queasy," Randal said as he started to turn green.

"Relax, it won't be long, they're doing great!" Cotton said quickly.

"Still, it's kind of odd seeing someone have their flesh torn off and then they start regenerating immediately afterwards."

"You do have a good point about that. Sloth here seems pretty weak."

"It's because her moves are pretty much water…she can't do anything with the water unless she tries to drown someone."

"Yeah, that's true." Sloth screamed out in pain as Hayate bit into her neck with his teeth.

"Okay Sloth, this is the end!" Den exclaimed as he thrust his blade into Sloth's chest.

"Damn it!" Hayate and Den leapt back as Sloth screamed out in agony. She began to cough up blood and looked up to glare at Hayate and Den. Her face turned sorrowful and pleading. "Den, you wouldn't do this to your own godmother, would you?"

"You are not my godmother," Den said quietly. He brought up his blade and slashed it against Sloth. Her body and bones turned to dust. "It's over…"

"No, Den, it's far from over. This part of the journey has come to a close, but the journey itself is far from over," Hayate stated as he turned around. "We still have a very long way to go I'm sure."

"Are you two alright?" Coal asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." Hayate looked over at Al and sighed. "Cotton, we request your assistance once more."

"Okay, fine," Cotton said as she jumped out of the armor. "As many battles that have been going on today…Be lucky you're not fighting two battles within thirty minutes of each other! I need at least thirty minutes to rest."

"Yeah, we know, we value your assistance greatly. As many wounds as we've been taking on this trip, we need someone like you with us."

"Yeah, you're lucky the metal guy picked me up off the streets earlier."

"Yes, we should thank him for his love of cats and soft heart."

"Yeah, but it was _how_ he got me that I didn't like!"

"What did he do?" Cotton placed her paw on Hayate's wound and began to heal it.

"I'm a cat that's afraid of anything, right? Well imagine what happens when I see this huge, gigantic, metal thing walking towards me!"

"Ah, doesn't look like it would end well."

"I tried to run. It appears that I found myself attached to a tree." Hayate chuckled as Cotton took her paws off of his wound. "All healed, now for Den. Good thing there's not that many wounds on you two right now." Cotton moved over to Den and begun healing him. "Not only did I find myself firmly attached to a tree, I have this gigantic metal hand grabbing me. The next thing I know, I'm tossed into a metal can! Good thing Den and Coal started talking to me or else I would have freaked out!"

"You, freaking out? I don't see that as a possibility," Den said with a snicker.

"Do you want me to stick you with my nail? I will do it!" Den narrowed his eyes and looked at Hayate.

"I think I liked her better when she was afraid of her own shadow. She never seemed to make any of these smart remarks."

"Shut it!"

"Nor did she try to order people around. Hey Cotton, how would you like to be dog food!"

"How would _you_ like to have a cotton mouth? I can have you spit up a hairball if you want!"

"Now that is just being cold."

"Whatever." Cotton jumped off of Den and smiled. "Okay, you are all healed up.

"A cat helping a dog, that's probably one of the strangest sights I've ever seen in my life," A voice said with a chuckle. Coal's eyes widened and Hayate turned his head to the side with wide eyes as well. Cotton shrieked and jumped into Al while the others stared in shock at the new arrival.

* * *

There's the chapter, gee, I wonder who this new arrival is, there is a couple of good hints in there. We'll just have to find out next chapter 


	16. Roy and Riza Awakened

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 16 (Roy and Riza are awake!)

"Colonel!" Ed shouted as he stared in shock at the three people that stood next to a car. Roy had his arms crossed and was leaning against the car with a smirk on his face.

"Hello, Fullmetal, I was wondering if you were awake," Roy said. Riza and Hoenheim walked around the car and the dogs all stared in shock. Roy looked over at Coal and smiled.

"My master is awake!" Coal exclaimed as she ran over to Roy and put her paws on his waist. Roy leaned over and pet Coal's head with his hands. Hayate ran over to Riza as she kneeled and pet Hayate's face.

"I don't know how this happened," Hayate said quietly. "I don't really care either, I'm just glad to see my master alive." Hayate turned toward Den, "Ask them how this is possible!"

"Right! Al, Ed, ask the humans what happened."

"I was about to do that," Ed said quietly. Roy raised his eyebrow and looked at Ed.

"Fullmetal, are you talking to a dog?" Roy asked.

"Yes actually, I am. It's hard to explain, I would rather let them explain it but Hayate's the boss here. He hasn't told Randal to translate anything. Anyway, they want to know how you're awake."

"I'm not sure I follow you…" Hayate rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Randal, you know what to do," Hayate said quietly. Roy, Riza and Hoenheim raised their eyebrow as Randal put his paws together.

"Aw, here it comes," Den said with a sigh. A flash appeared around him and he grunted as a surge was sent through his body. Flashes appeared around Roy, Riza and Hoenheim and Den fell to the ground when the flash vanished. "Damn, you'd think after doing that _twice_ now, I'd have gotten used to that!" Roy, Riza and Hoenheim stared in shock at Den as he lifted his head to look at them. "What? You've never seen a talking dog before?"

"No, they actually haven't, Den," Hayate said flatly.

"Hush up, Hayate! You're not the one that had to get shocked by what felt like electricity five times now!"

"Den's talking," Hoenheim said quietly.

"Good for you, mister stating the obvious!"

"Sorry, but it's kind of…awkward." Den sighed and sat down.

"Yeah, Al and Ed both had the same reaction. For those of you who don't know, animals can perform alchemy."

"We figured that much out," Roy said quietly.

"Good, Randal here is a translation alchemist, the effects are temporary though. Anyway, a bunch of dog homunculi caused all humans in Central to fall asleep. It was a crystal that did it, we're going to destroy this crystal. Hayate is planning to destroy the stone and whatever records there are of the philosopher's stone. Nobody will ever create the stone again."

"How do they intend to do this?" Riza asked, she was still recovering from shock.

"We transmuted a philosopher's stone from Scar's arm, the dog known as Scar. Hayate intends to use that stone to destroy the records of the philosopher's stone."

"I see."

"Is that a ring on your finger?" Den asked as he looked at Riza's hand. Riza smiled as Roy wrapped his arm around Riza's waist.

"I've proposed to the most beautiful woman in the world," Roy said with a smile. "I love her more than anything in this world." Roy leaned over and kissed Riza on the lips.

"Nice, so when did you wake?"

"Hoenheim performed alchemy on some strange crystal that we had on our bodies," Riza said quietly. "He mentioned to us that our dogs were doing something and he felt he should wake us. It appears that you have no need for us right now though."

"No, Hayate would desire you to be with us. The more fighting alongside of us, the better." Riza looked down as Coal started barking, Den sighed and looked at Riza. "She says it was the 'Fullmetal human' that saved Hayate. They fought against the homunculus known as Greed. Hayate and I just defeated the dog homunculus known as Sloth and there is only Dante and Pride left I believe. Oh, and the Fuhrer was a homunculus, but I'm sure you knew that, Sloth revealed that all the human homunculi were eaten by Gluttony."

"That's a lot to take in."

"Oh, it's barely scratching the surface of things." Den barked at Hayate and received a nod in return. "Okay, well it's good that you two are finally getting married. I think it'd be good for you to know that both Hayate and Coal have found a mate."

"Really, a mate?" Roy raised his eyebrow and looked at his dog, she was now sitting next to Hayate and the two dogs were very close to one another. "I'm guessing they're mating with each other then?"

"Yep, when you get married, that will be a marriage for these two. Oh, and you should expect puppies soon." Roy and Riza nodded their heads as Den turned to look at Hoenheim. "Have you awakened any other humans?"

"No, I haven't," Hoenheim said quietly.

"I have something to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"Well…Hayate, do you think I should ask him about what we talked about?"

"Go ahead," Hayate responded. "Don't say he has to, just suggest it."

"Okay. Hoenheim, we know of your condition, when Hayate destroys the philosopher's stone it will be no more. You are aware that the Elrics will no longer be able to regain their bodies. We were thinking you could help them regain their bodies but we do not wish to force you into anything, do not think that we want you to use up the last of your power."

"I'll do it," Hoenheim said firmly.

"What?"

"I said I'll do it. It is the least I can do for them." Hoenheim walked over to Ed and Al and placed his hands on their shoulders. "I will use the last of my power to return your bodies, what about you, Den?"

"I do not desire the return of my limb," Den said quietly. "It is this limb that I require in order to help save Amestris and wake everyone up. Return their bodies to normal though, that is my request."

"Okay, you do realize that once this is through, I will vanish."

"We understand the circumstances. Your decaying body will be gone." Hoenheim nodded as a bright red light shone from his hands. Cotton screamed and jumped out of the armor and pounced onto Den, he narrowed his eyes as her nails dug into his back. Everybody closed their eyes as the flash grew too bright to look at, when they opened their eyes, Hoenheim was gone. Al stared at his hands and Ed glanced at his arm.

"He did it, he returned their bodies to normal," Riza said quietly. Ed and Al were both speechless and Hayate bowed his head.

"Thank you, Hoenheim," Hayate said quietly. "Let us take this moment to thank and remember him." Den repeated Hayate's words and everybody bowed their heads. Hayate lifted his head and started to walk, "Let's go."

"We can drive you to where you need to go," Roy said quickly. Hayate looked over at the car they drove in and sighed.

"There are five animals and four humans, that car only has four seats," Hayate said flatly.

"He doesn't sound too thrilled with that idea," Roy said quietly.

"I'm confused," Den said. "How could we all fit into that car?"

"Yeah, I didn't think about that…"

"Randal, use alchemy on us," Hayate said quietly. "Make it only for three days."

"I can always take the alchemy effect off and end the translating process any time. It doesn't have to be ten days, I can easily end it in five."

"Fine, do whatever, I think they should hear us talk. I'm getting tired of using Den as a translator and I'm sure he's getting tired of translating."

"Okay." Randal used his alchemy on Hayate and Coal, Coal winced slightly and Hayate didn't flinch.

"Oh come on, that's not fair!" Den exclaimed.

"We don't show it as much," Hayate stated.

"Hey, I just realized, where am I supposed to hide!" Cotton exclaimed.

"In the car if you want, it doesn't matter."

"Hayate, you can talk now?" Riza asked.

"Yeah, and so can Coal." Roy and Riza looked over at Coal as she smiled.

"So I'm guessing you two finally got along?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, we do have a history together, actually," Coal said quietly. "I should thank you for taking me in, I never thought I'd see Hayate again."

"Really, how exactly do you know Hayate?"

"He helped me out when I was being attacked by a gang. We were just little puppies then, I'm guessing Hayate figured out who I was before I figured him out."

"Well it's great that you two have met up again."

"Yeah, it is." Hayate stood up straight and sighed.

"The Elric humans should return to their hometown," Hayate said quietly.

"Why?" Ed asked quickly.

"Where is Winry by the way?"

"We took her to Risembool, we didn't wake her though."

"Okay, that's why you should go back to Risembool. When she wakens, she will need to be consoled. Her dog will be missing and she'll be very confused and traumatized. Be with her for when she wakes up, once we destroy that crystal, it will take at least a day or two to return."

"Okay, I guess…but…"

"Randal, you know what to do." Randal nodded and took away the ability to communicate with animals away from Ed and Al. Ed sighed and looked at Al.

"Let's go, Al," Ed said quietly. "Hayate, you and the others better return safely." Hayate nodded as Ed and Al walked away.

"How important is driving?" Hayate asked to Roy and Riza. "I would ask if you two want to walk the rest of the way, but either way I don't see us dogs as being able to ride in that car."

"It might be tight, but we can fit at least three of you in there," Riza responded.

"I'm small enough that I can ride on the back of someone," Cotton said as she jumped onto Den's back.

"Coal, do you want to ride or walk?" Hayate asked.

"I really don't care," Coal answered.

"Okay, you ride then. Den, how about you?"

"I don't think it matters," Den said quietly.

"You ride then, and what about you Randal?"

"You should ride with them," Randal responded. "You're more important than I am and you'll reach the place faster. All I'm useful for is taking away the translation alchemy, so I'll walk, it'll probably take a couple hours longer for me to reach the light."

"Okay, so if you want to walk to the crystal, that's acceptable. It'll be cramped but we can fit in the back."

"Hey Cotton, you're not scared of cars or bumpy roads, are you?" Den asked with a snicker.

"Do you _want_ me to hurt you!" Cotton exclaimed. "Quit making fun of me!"  
"Ah, but you're so easy and fun to make fun of!"

"Stop that! You're being mean again!"

"Den, leave the poor, scared little chicken alone," Hayate said with a sigh.

"Hey! That wasn't nice either!" Roy and Riza chuckled as they opened the doors. Den jumped in the backseat first, then Coal and finally Hayate. Cotton rested on Den's back.

"How about I bounce around some?" Den asked. "I wonder how close to the roof of the car you'll go!"

"Stop that!"

"So, where to?" Roy asked as he and Riza got into the car.

"Drive toward that light in the distance," Hayate said. "It should be on a mountaintop, and by car we'll probably reach the mountain really soon." Roy nodded as he started the car and drove off, everyone sighed and relaxed for the first time in a few days.

* * *

There's the chapter, only a few more chapters of this are left, hope you've enjoyed this one. **  
**


	17. The Crystal is Destroyed

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 17 (The Crystal Destroyed)

"The stone is in the trunk of the car, right?" Hayate asked.

"Yes," Coal stated. "It looks like we've reached the mountaintop, this is good." Roy parked the car and everybody exited the vehicle.

"So this is where the source of the light is?" Roy asked.

"Yes, and now we need to find it and destroy it," Den said quietly.

"I'm scared to be up here," Cotton said quietly. "It's really scary here…"

"You'll get over it," Hayate stated. "Just stay close to us and you'll be just fine."

"Man, I thought you conquered your fear, Cotton," Den said with a chuckle.

"Keep that up and you're going to be severely cut up!" Den shook his head and sighed.

"You merely act tough."

"I _am_ tough! I'm as tough as they come! I'm just like Hayate!" Hayate rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I seriously wish you'd cut that out," Hayate said with a groan.

"Why?"

"I'm not that tough."

"I think you are," Coal said with a smile. "Nobody's perfect and you may not be the toughest dog in the world, but I think you're very strong. Isn't that enough?"

"Thank you Coal…but it's embarrassing to be called strong when I know I'm not."

"We're all still alive, right?" Coal leaned her body against Hayate's body. "I think you're very strong, don't get me wrong, I'm strong enough that I don't need to rely on you but I've seen enough to think you're very strong. You went against Greed and kept fighting beyond what your body could actually handle, you're lucky I was unconscious for most of the time because if I wasn't then I would have been yelling at you for exerting yourself. I'm sure you would have been yelling at me for even fighting if I was conscious that time, I know I would have fought. You've managed to keep us all alive and protected, so when Cotton or someone else gives you a compliment, you shouldn't be angry with them or embarrassed. Plus it's a real compliment when Cotton looks up to you, she's an easily scared cat and for her to look up to you, it's a great thing."

"Yeah, you're right…"

"Think of it as Cotton looking up to you as a role model, that's something that should be a great thing!"

"Yeah, I'm actually glad to be a role model." Hayate looked over at Cotton, she had jumped up onto Riza's shoulder. He smirked and looked back to Coal.

"You're strong, and that strength is one of the many reasons that I have fallen in love with you. Please, don't be ashamed or embarrassed about the reason I love you."

"You're one smart dog," Hayate said with a chuckle. "I'm sure there is no other female quite like you." Coal chuckled and her eyes widened briefly and closed as Hayate pressed his muzzle against hers. (A/N: There was no other way I could think to write in a kiss between the two dogs, licking didn't seem appropriate.) "I love you, Coal." Normally if a male had just kissed her, Coal wouldn't be as dazed as she was, but Hayate was no normal male, he was her mate and she loved having him as such.

"Okay you lovebirds, can we continue now?" Den asked.

"Patience, Den," Hayate said with a slight chuckle. "Yeah, I think we're ready to go. Coal, stick with your master and my master."

"What!" Coal exclaimed, "I'm going in there to fight!"

"They are not to follow us, so I want you to stay with them and protect them. Can you do this for me?" Coal looked over at Roy and Riza with a sigh.

"They can protect themselves though…"

"They don't know what they're up against."

"We don't have all day," Den said firmly.

"Hold on for a minute, Den." Hayate turned to Coal and gave her a hug. "Do this for me, in case someone like Pride or Dante show up, I want you here to protect them." Coal glared at Hayate but sighed when she realized that he wouldn't give in.

"Damn you're stubborn," Coal said quietly. "I'll stay here but you better not die, if you die then I'm going to be mad."

"I won't die, don't worry about that." Hayate and Coal smirked at each other before Hayate ran off. Coal turned to Roy, Riza and Cotton and sighed.

"You three, get in that car where you'll be safe." Roy nodded as he hurried Riza and Cotton into the car, he turned to see Coal smiling at him. "You too, we can't let anything bad happen to you." Coal heard a noise and turned to see a pit bull walking out of some bushes. "Crap, Hayate was right to keep me behind."

"I'm not going in the car," Roy said quietly as he stepped next to Coal. "I just adopted you and I'm not letting you die."

"What is it with men?" Coal said as she looked to the ground. "Always thinking I can't handle myself…If you want to fight, go ahead and do so, but do not assume that I can't handle myself!"

"I understand."

"Good." Coal looked at the pit bull and growled. "Who are you?"

"I am Pride." The pit bull had growled as he stepped toward Coal. "You're trespassing on Dante's turf."

"Okay, Pride, but let me tell you something! You're trespassing on Amestris and interfering by putting the humans to sleep and we're going to bring an end to you!"

"Good luck." Pride charged toward Coal and slashed her in the side. She leapt back and sent a burst of flame toward Pride, he quickly slashed through the flame and sent it away.

"What the hell!"

"I can control the air currents and render your flame alchemy useless."

"Damn…" Pride charged toward Coal and she leapt out of the way, he then leapt back and slashed her across the back. "Crap!"

"You're too easy, then again, you are a female." Coal growled fiercely and glared at Pride.

"You did _not_ just say that to me!" Coal charged toward Pride and slashed his neck with her claws. He then bit her neck and tossed her along the ground. He then turned and bit into Roy's arm before he could snap his fingers.

"Damn it!" Roy shouted. Riza leapt out of the car and fired multiple gunshots into Pride as Coal snapped her nails together and set Pride to fire. Roy tossed Pride off of him and into a tree. Pride growled and charged toward Coal, she quickly jumped out of the way and sent a burst of flame into Pride.

"Yeah, you couldn't avoid that one, could you! You men are all the same, save a certain couple of males that I can actually respect!" Coal quickly bit into the back of Pride's neck and began clawing at him.

"Damn it, get off of me!" Pride shouted. Pride quickly slammed his back, along with Coal, into a nearby wall.

"Damn!" Coal pushed herself up and groaned as she clicked her nails together. Pride slashed his way through the flames and thrust his claws into Coal's stomach. Coal winced as she kicked Pride off of her and sent a burst of flames into Pride.

"You can't kill off my dog that easily!" Roy shouted as he snapped his fingers and sent a large burst of flame into Pride.

"Crap!"

"You're dead!" Riza shouted as she fired multiple gunshots into Pride.

"You're dead," Coal said quietly.

"Damn you, I can't be beat by a lowly female!"

"If there's one thing I despise more than a homunculus…" Coal began walking toward Pride. "It's a chauvinistic, sexist, homunculus." Coal transmuted a long flaming sword and positioned it in her mouth. She then thrust the sword through Pride's chest and destroyed the stone in his chest, she watched as Pride slowly turned to dust. "Cotton, come heal me, I want to get to Hayate."

-----------------

"Damn it, how did we get separated!" Hayate said angrily. He and Den had been heading for the crystal and at some point of time they had become separated. "Oh well, we'll meet up at the crystal."

"You won't be going to the crystal," A voice said. Hayate turned to see a Shih Tzu standing behind him. "I am known as Dante."

"So you're the one that did all this? Fine, I can manage to defeat you."

"Come on, fight me if you think you can defeat me."

"I'll give you the first strike."

"That's a foolish decision." Dante pressed her paws together and sent a large rock dragon toward Hayate.

"What the hell!" Hayate dodged and missed the dragon. It followed after him so he flipped onto the dragon and ran toward Dante. He leapt toward Dante and she clasped her hands together and sent Hayate flying into a wall.

"You thought it'd be easy to defeat me like that?"

"Damn it…You're pathetic." Hayate growled and charged toward Dante only to be hit by a large rock. Hayate groaned and glared at Dante. "I'll defeat you still…at least you don't appear to be anything like those homunculi."

"They were pathetic little creatures. I didn't care about them, I intended to destroy them in this city along with all the humans."

"So you would have betrayed their trust anyway?"

"What trust, I was never on their side!"

"As true as that may be, it's still not appropriate to break someone's trust." Hayate charged toward Dante but made sure to keep aware of his surroundings. He dodged a rock blast and then another blast.

"Damn it, hold still!"

"I'm not dumb enough to fall for the same trick again!" Hayate quickly bit into Dante's neck and tossed her into a wall.

"Crap! You got luck there, mutt…"

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Hayate charged toward Dante but ran off in another direction causing Dante to become confused.

"Where the hell did he go?" Dante walked off a bit and looked around. She turned around and jumped back when Hayate jumped out of a bush and slashed her across the chest. "Crap!"

"I'm very good at stealth." Hayate ran off once more and grabbed a sharp stick. He aimed and shot it at Dante, it pierced her chest causing her to spit up blood. Hayate shot another sharp object toward Dante and it hit her chest once more.

"Not bad…" Dante put her paws together and Hayate looked up to see several Rocks falling on him.

"No, crap!" Dante chuckled as she stood next to the rock pile.

"That's what I call a dog pile. A bunch of rocks, piled on a dog." Dante coughed up some more blood and started to walk away. "Damn…I need to hurry and give myself eternal life…"

"I can help you reach eternal life."

"What the hell!" Dante looked over and saw Hayate shoot from the rock pile. He was bloody and dirty from taking the beating and digging through the rocks.

"Allow me to help you reach eternity, Dante! For all the humans and animals that died at your hands and for all those in Amestris right now! Die!" Dante stood in shock as Hayate dashed toward Dante and clenched his jaws around her neck. He then twisted Dante's neck and released her from his grip causing her to fall to the ground. Hayate looked over to a Cliffside and decided to kick Dante's body off of the cliff.

"Crap are you okay Hayate!" Hayate looked over to see Den running toward him.

"Yeah, I'm good," Hayate said with a groan. "I'm just a little beat up, but I'm fine."

"Hayate, what the hell!" Hayate looked over and sighed as Coal ran up to him. "What the hell happened!"

"I took a beating but defeated Dante."

"Cotton, heal him before he loses all his blood!"

"I'm on it!" Cotton said as she jumped off of Riza's shoulder and landed on Hayate. There she commenced to heal his wounds. "You're lucky I can still heal some of your wounds, it hasn't been thirty minutes since I've last healed someone." Hayate's eyes widened, he knew full well that thirty minutes passed since they fought with Sloth, that meant Coal had been injured. Hayate looked over at Coal and his eyes ran over her body checking for wounds. Soon his eyes became lost as they glazed over Coal's slender body and he forgot that he was checking for wounds.

"Hayate, are you checking me out?" Coal asked.

"N-No, I'm checking for wounds!" Den raised his eyebrow and looked at Hayate then at Coal.

"No, he's checking you out," Den said with a sigh. Coal chuckled and walked over to Hayate, she rubbed her head against Hayate's body and sighed.

"Damn it, Hayate, I thought you were more careful than this."

"I happen to be very careful."

"Okay, how about control, I thought you had more control over your urges."

"I do, I have plenty of control over my urges." Hayate stared into space and Den waved his paw in front of Hayate.

"What are you doing?" Den asked.

"Shh, I'm trying to clear my mind of dirty thoughts." Coal chuckled and shook her head.

"Come on, big shot, we still have to destroy that crystal. I also had the others bring the stone so you can get rid of that and destroy all evidence of the stone." Hayate nodded as they continued walking and found the large crystal.

"Here it is, Den use alchemy on it," Hayate said.

"I'm on it," Den said as he pressed his paws to the crystal and sent a surge of alchemy into it. "It's not working, Coal, help out!" Coal nodded and placed her paws on the crystal. Randal ran up to the group and was panting.

"I-I made it, did I miss anything?" Randal asked.

"No, you didn't miss a single thing," Hayate said flatly. "Help out the others." Randal and Cotton placed their paws on the crystal and began sending alchemic surges into it. "Why won't it break?" Roy placed his hands on the crystal and joined the animals in their attempt to break the crystal. Riza started firing bullets into the crystal and Hayate began slashing the crystal with his claws. "Keep it up, I think it is breaking!" The crystal began to crack and after five long minutes of working to break the crystal, it shattered into many pieces. A large light shot out across Amestris and everyone smiled.

"I think it's over now," Den said with a chuckle. "We've done it, we've awakened them all."

"Yes, and now it's time to destroy the philosopher's stone," Hayate said quietly. "Coal, I'll let you do the honors here."

"Okay, sure," Coal said as Den drew a transmutation circle using his paw. Roy placed the stone in the middle of the circle. "Okay, after this, the philosopher's stone will be no more and it will vanish from human existence!" Coal placed her paws on the circle and a bright blue light emanated from the circle. When the light vanished, the stone was no longer present.

"This is great! We all made it, I knew we could do this. Thanks for your help, Cotton."

"Anytime you need me again, let me know!" Cotton said with a grin.

"I will, again, thanks. If you weren't here then I think we might have died a while back."

"You would have died against Greed!"

"Try not to remind me. Randal, thank you as well."

"It was my pleasure, even though I wasn't of much use," Randal said with a low chuckle.

"You helped out greatly, it was very useful to be able to talk to the humans. Personally I would have become greatly annoyed if Al kept following us without knowing what we were doing. He might have wanted to stop us and take us home or something."

"So do you want me to turn off the translation alchemy now?"

"Yes, I think our owners probably would appreciate having dogs that they didn't have to talk to one on one. Meaning, its back to them hearing us bark, they don't need to hear our every word. I would like to say something personal to Coal every now and then, they don't need to hear it."

"I'd say this was a good journey," Den said quietly. "We helped a lot of people out."

"It was good having my best friend with us."

"Thanks. Though I'm sure your mate is much more of a companion for you."

"Well if you want to put it like that." Hayate looked at Coal and smirked. "Her slender body is a million times better to look at and touch, that's for sure." Coal chuckled and the others groaned.

"Okay, before he says _another_ line like that, take away the translation thing," Roy said as he rubbed his forehead.

"You're no better," Riza said with a sigh. Everyone laughed in response as Coal pressed her muzzle to Hayate's cheek causing him to blush.

* * *

That's the chapter the final one will be up tomorrow 


	18. Epilogue

Waking Amestris

Disclaimer: I keep saying this, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Will you get that through your head? If I owned FMA then that anime would have ended much differently, though I would have kept the fight with Roy and Pride!

A/N: Okay thoughts are in _"Italics"_ and speech is in "Regular." Emphasized words in a spoken sentence will also be in _Italics_.

* * *

Chapter 18 (Epilogue)

"Uncle Den, Uncle Den!" Cried the voices of two puppies. Den looked over to see three kids running toward him.

"Uh oh, here comes trouble," Den said with a slight chuckle. "How's it going kids? Your parents are home, right?"

"Yeah, why else would we be allowed outside?" Said the male dog. "We can't be outside if our parents aren't home, they're afraid we'll run off or something!"

"Well, they're right, Shadow!" Said one of the female dogs.

"What was that, Ginger? I could have sworn I heard something come out of your mouth," Shadow stated.

"Why you little!"

"Don't call me little, you runt!"

"I'll call you whatever I _want_ to call you!"

"Oh yeah, well you stink!"

"You stink more, perhaps you should take a bath you smelly puppy!"

"Why should I, I don't stink as bad as you!"

_"Ah, brotherly and sisterly love, what a joy to see,"_ Den thought as he rolled his eyes and chuckled. _"They're just like their parents. So much like them that it isn't funny."_ Den sighed as the brother and sister continued to bicker. "Why can't you two get along?" Den smiled and shook his head.

"I'll apologize for Shadow, he doesn't know when to give up and when he starts getting annoying," Ginger stated.

"What about you, you're exactly the same way!"

"You should have gotten adopted like all our other brothers and sisters!"

"Our owners liked me the best so they kept me, I'm not sure why they kept you though."

"Well, I was just here to visit your parents," Den said with a sigh. He placed his paw on Shadow's forehead. "Wow, you grew since I last saw you!"

"Well, we're one full years old now!" Shadow and Ginger took a proud look and smiled. "Mom and Dad are inside so let's go in!" Den chuckled as he followed the kids inside the house. Hayate and Coal were sitting in the kitchen next to their food bowls.

"Good afternoon, Den," Hayate said with a nod.

"Have you two been fighting again?" Coal asked as she stared at the puppies. "Sometimes I wonder if I need to separate you two."

"I don't think that'd be such a good idea, Coal," Den stated. "Those two are inseparable no matter how hard you try. Though they're a lot like their parents."

"How so?" Hayate and Coal asked this in unison and raised their eyebrows.

"They'll never admit to each other when around others that they need the other beside them and they constantly bicker with one another. Though deep down in their hearts they love each other. Though their love for each other isn't as complicated since they're siblings."

"Well I suppose that's fine. Our masters kept these two because they liked them the best and they always did seem to stay together," Coal stated. "They rarely ever leave each other's side." Hayate, Coal and Den looked over at the window as they heard a cat scream and hit the window. They raised their eyebrow as Randal walked into the dog door.

"The cat got annoying," Randal said quietly. Cotton ran into the dog door and hissed.

"That was mean!" Cotton shouted.

"Hah, you didn't change much," Hayate said with a smirk.

"Why would _I_ want to change? I've become braver though!"

"Oh yeah, then why did a small insect cause you to launch yourself on my back?" Randal asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"I wasn't frightened, it was a…Attack stance! Yeah I was taking an attack pose!"

"_Right_, I'm _sure_ you were."

"How have you two been after all this time?" Hayate asked.

"Well, I've been saving all the animals in my town!" Cotton said with a grin. "It's great, I'm the bravest cat around!"

"You're joking, right?" Randal asked.

"Shut it old man!"

"Don't talk to me like that!"

"Where did she learn to talk to dogs like that?" Den asked.

"It was probably when she first started hanging around dogs," Hayate responded. "She has a lot of guts, I'll give her that one."

"So how have you two been?" Randal asked.

"We've been doing alright," Coal answered. "Our kids are crazy as ever, but you still love them."

"Yeah, how do you handle those kids?"

"They're not that difficult," Hayate said with a grin.

"Don't lie, Hayate," Coal said with her eyes shut and a smirk on her face. "When they were younger they ran you all over the place, believe it or not they actually wore _you_ out."

"Well, at least you never wear me out." Hayate raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"Please, no more bedroom humor," Den said with a chuckle.

"That was bathroom humor." Coal stared at Hayate and sighed.

"Honestly…Sometimes I wonder about you," Coal stated.

"How many dirty jokes does he make?" Cotton asked.

"That's not even scratching the surface," Coal said with a chuckle.

"It's not that bad," Hayate stated. The kids ran outside to play and Hayate walked over to the window and sighed. "It's been almost two years, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, two years since those homunculi were defeated." Coal stood up and grinned as she looked at Den. "You should have seen the look on Scar's face when he went to kill my master, he couldn't blow anything up because that would have attributed to the philosopher's stone which does not exist any longer. His tattoo was gone from his arm and he was so baffled when he showed up to bring down my owner."

"Hah, it's always fun to see the enemies be made into a fool," Den said with a chuckle. He looked at Cotton and patted her back with his paw. "If I remember correctly, Cotton had a lot of fun with Wrath."

"I did _not_ have fun with Wrath!" Cotton exclaimed. "That was the most frightening experience of my life!"

"You still survived, and so there's nothing to worry about."

"So, Fullmetal is seventeen now," Coal said with a grin. "That makes his brother twelve years of age. They were a good help back then."

"I'm not so sure how much help Ed was," Hayate said quietly. "Al on the other hand was a great help. He kept Lust from killing you."

"Well, Fullmetal killed Greed before Greed killed you."

"That I suppose I am thankful for. Yet, I am more thankful that you survived." Hayate turned around and walked over to Coal. "I've always wondered about you before. When I let you get to the kennel, I always wondered if you made it and two years ago it was confirmed that you made it safely."

"It was the same way for me, you know. Though I suspected you to have grown up to be a street dog. I was definitely wrong about that."

"Oh, you thought I was going to wind up being a _dead_ street dog. I think I surprised you there."

"Yeah, you did actually surprise me. At least I know why it didn't take me a horribly long time to actually fall for you, and who knew it would be a hard fall. It almost seems cliché in a way…that I would fall for the person who helped me out so long ago."

"I don't think that's too entirely cliché. It's only attraction for one another that made us fall for each other. Well, attraction was a key factor in causing us to fall for each other."

"Yeah, given you two, I've never seen two dogs more in love," Den said with a chuckle."

"I hate to tell you this, Den, but with your judgment with couples, you could say Randal and Cotton would fall in love."

"Oh don't go there!" Randal shouted.

"Such an old bastard," Cotton said as she shuddered.

"I'm going to rip your little kitty lungs out!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Don't tempt me!"

"Why are you even here, I came to visit my friends that I hadn't seen in a long time."

"I came here for the same purpose…kitty."

"Fine, well I bet they're not happy to see you."

"We're happy to see both of you, as weird as you may be," Coal stated. "It gives us something else to do, or I should say it gets Hayate to focus on something else…"

"What does he normally focus on?"

"Me and just about every dirty joke in the book…"

"Oh."

"At least there are no more homunculi around," Hayate said with a smile. "Amestris is safe from danger and there's nothing that can put this world in torment for a long time. Amestris owes it to every one of you guys."

"You participated in waking Amestris as much as we did," Coal said. "Stop being humble and take credit for something at least once."

"Yeah," Den said quickly. "You pretty much had a hand in leading the group, we all listened to you and fought alongside of you. You never faltered or gave up, you're the one who defeated Dante and had us all destroy that crystal. You should take some credit."

"You do speak as if it wouldn't have made a difference if you came along or not," Randal said with a chuckle. "I'm the one that it wouldn't have made a difference at all if I came along. I'm just an old man who couldn't keep up."

"I only came along because you were there," Cotton said with a shrug. "Well, that and I _was_ catnapped by a large armored suit."

"I naturally followed you," Den stated. "I probably would have stayed put if you stayed put, so don't sell yourself short." Coal smiled and walked over to Hayate, she nuzzled her head against his body.

"Each of us had a role to play," Coal said with a grin. "Den and I were just the soldiers, Cotton was the one who would heal us when we got in bad shape, and you led the group. We all followed because of you, in a way it was probably because of two things. One would be the desire to wake up the humans and the other would be the fact that in a way we were all indebted to you. You saved Cotton once and she looked up to you in the highest respect so she followed along and proved to be a very valuable member to the team. Den probably didn't owe you anything but he followed because you were his best friend. Randal was helped by you as well at one point of time and would have jumped in a haystack to find a needle at your command and without questioning how impossible such a task would be. We all would have done that."

"Thanks, I'm glad I had an impact on all of you."

"Eh, you had the biggest impact on me I guess."

"Really, how so?"

"You impressed me by trying to control your urges while I was in heat, you fought until you were near your final breath and for someone like me. You kept the males away from me and tried to protect me, and then if you'll look out that window you will see two results of the impact you had on me." Hayate raised his eyebrow and looked outside to see Shadow and Ginger playing in the yard. "I'd say that's the greatest impact yet."

"Heh, I'd say you're right." Den, Randal and Cotton walked over to the window and smiled.

"They always remind me of you whenever I come here," Den said with a chuckle. "Their actions are just like you two."

"Well they are our children," Hayate said with a slight chuckle.

"One day they'll grow big and strong, I'll make sure of that," Coal said with a grin.

"Coal, maybe you should just let them be kids for now. Don't try raising them with harsh methods."

"I would _never_ raise my children to be harsh."

"Right, and who was it I saw telling Ginger that if she ever saw a stranger, she was to growl and snap at him if she was dangerous. Teaching our daughter to be reserved around strangers."

"Yeah, and I saw you telling Shadow that he had to remain tough and merciless during battle!"

"Eh, they're kids, they don't know what we're telling them anyway."

"Yeah…right…"

"I love you, Coal. So, are you bored, do you want to go have some fun? I could use a quick blow." Coal chuckled and everyone else rolled their eyes at the joke Hayate just made.

"I love you too, Hayate. Fun, I suppose… I could use your good paws. Now, let's find you a hole so you can slide right into it!" Hayate and Coal walked off. Den, Randal and Cotton stood with their eyes twitching.

"Did _she_ just make a dirty joke?" Cotton asked.

"She's been hanging around him too much," Den said as he shook his head. "At least I think that's the case…"

"Maybe we should go to our homes now," Randal said quietly.

"Yeah, I'm up for that!" Den, Randal and Cotton shuddered as they left the house.

"These two people are the ones that saved Amestris?" Den asked with a sigh. "I don't know _how_ that was possible."

* * *

There's the final chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading the story and thank you to all those who followed this 


End file.
